LIBRARY  OF  THE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 

PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


PRESENTED  BY 

Dr.  Thomas  n .  ears 


■Division  _  nLi  <o  o 

Section .  -•. 


THE  STUDY  OF  THE 
HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


THE  STUDY  OF  THE 
HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


WITH  AN  ANNOTATED  GUIDE 
TO  MUSIC  LITERATURE 


BY 

EDWARD  DICKINSON 

Professor  of  the  History  of  Music,  Oberlin  Conservatory,  Oberlin  College, 
Author  of  *'  Music  in  the  History  of  the  Western  Church  " 


NEW  YORK 
CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 
1906 


Copyright,  JQOJ, 

By  Charles  Scribner's  Sons 

Published  September,  igoj 


UNIVERSITY  PRESS,  CAMBRIDGE.  U.S.A. 


To  my  Aunt 
MARTHA  DICKINSON  MORGAN 


Digitized  by 

the  Internet  Archive 

in  2015 

https://archive.org/details/studyofhistoryofOOdick_0 


INTRODUCTION 


This  book  is  based  upon  the  plan  and  method  that 
are  followed  in  the  courses  of  lectures  on  the  history  and 
criticism  of  music  given  in  the  Oberlin  Conservatory  of 
Music.  The  only  rational  aim  of  such  instruction  is 
to  aid  the  student  to  examine,  think,  and  conclude 
for  himself.  The  material  for  study  is  found  in 
musical  compositions  and  the  critical  and  historical  work 
of  recognized  authorities.  The  time  has  gone  by  when 
the  representations  of  a  single  book  or  a  single  author 
can  meet  the  demands  of  an  intelligent  curiosity.  In 
every  department  of  inquiry  in  which  books  are  employed 
it  is  now  taken  for  granted  that  many  authorities  must 
be  examined,  and  that  the  teacher's  work  consists  largely 
in  providing  abstracts,  topics,  references,  and  similar 
guides.  Such  assistance  the  present  author  endeavors 
to  furnish  to  those  who  are  interested  in  the  history  of 
musical  art. 

The  importance  of  this  subject  is  now  universally 
recognized  by  the  musical  fraternity.  It  is  in  accord 
with  the  whole  modern  method  of  art  study  that  a  true 
critical  appreciation  should  be  based  upon  a  knowledge 
of  the  nature  of  historic  musical  movements,  and  their 
relations  to  each  other  and  to  the  general  intellectual 
currents  of  their  periods.    There  is  not  a  single  musical 


viii 


INTRODUCTION 


critic  of  eminence  in  Europe  or  America  who  is  not  also 
an  authority  on  the  history  of  the  art.  That  this  should  be 
so  lies  in  the  very  logic  of  interpretative  criticism.  To 
comprehend  and  appreciate,  not  to  praise  or  blame,  is  the 
music  student's  first  business.  Before  a  work  of  art 
the  first  question  should  be,  lt  What  is  it  ?  "  not  "  Do  I 
like  it  ?  "  Only  when  the  work  is  understood  in  all  its 
bearings  —  its  author's  standpoint,  its  motive,  its  place  in 
the  chain  of  development  —  may  the  second  question 
come,  "  What  is  it  to  me  f  " 

The  vastness  and  complexity  of  the  study  of  the 
history  of  music  are  bewildering  to  those  who  enter  upon 
it  unassisted.  This  volume  is  intended  to  clear  the  way 
by  indicating  the  problems,  the  method,  and  the  materials. 
The  narrative  and  critical  portion  gives  a  terse  and  com- 
prehensive summary  of  music  history,  showing  what 
are  the  important  subjects  involved  and  their  connections 
and  relations.  The  bibliographical  sections  lead  the 
student  to  the  best  critical  commentaries  in  the  English 
language  on  every  phase  and  detail  of  the  subject. 
These  reference  divisions  will  perhaps  be  more  subject 
to  criticism  than  any  other  portion  of  the  book.  No 
other  teacher  of  this  subject  would  make  quite  the 
same  selection  or  arrange  the  references  in  the  same 
way.  To  some  the  number  of  books  cited  will  seem 
large  beyond  all  reason.  The  author  is,  of  course,  aware 
that  the  thorough  reading  of  so  many  books  can  be 
undertaken  only  by  one  who  makes  the  subject  a  specialty 
and  is  willing  to  give  many  years  to  its  mastery.  But 
in  such  a  case  excess  is  less  culpable  than  paucity,  and 
the  systematic  marshalling  before  the  student  of  all  the 


INTRODUCTION  ix 

forces  at  his  disposal  will  give  him  more  satisfaction 
than  if  he  were  to  find  the  book  at  any  point  inadequate. 
Moreover,  the  majority  of  those  who  will  use  it  will  not 
attempt  to  cover  all  music  history  with  equal  thorough- 
ness, but  will  wish  to  read  upon  certain  particular 
composers,  periods,  or  forms.  It  was  the  interest  of  this 
class  especially  that  compelled  the  author  to  make  his 
references  so  voluminous. 

Another  obvious  criticism  should  be  considered  here. 
The  basis  of  the  true  study  of  the  history  and  meaning  of 
any  art  is  not  the  reading  of  books  about  works  of  art, 
but  the  direct  first-hand  examination  of  the  works  them- 
selves. This  dogma  needs  to  be  incessantly  hammered  into 
the  heads  of  amateur  students  of  music.  If  this  book 
encouraged  any  one  to  substitute  critics  and  historians  for 
the  actual  compositions  of  the  masters,  then  the  author's 
intention  would  be  grossly  perverted  and  his  hopes  dis- 
appointed. The  first  aim  of  the  music  lover  should  be  to 
make  himself  acquainted  with  the  largest  possible  number 
of  the  best  musical  compositions.  This  book  and  the  books 
recommended  are  to  be  used  merely  as  aids  to  the  broadest 
critical  understanding.  Every  one  knows,  however,  that 
this  first-hand  study  of  scores  is  in  a  multitude  of  cases 
impossible.  How  many  representative  works  of  the  Mid- 
dle Ages  and  of  the  seventeenth  century  are  accessible 
to  the  student,  especially  the  American  student?  How 
many  operas,  how  many  orchestral  and  chamber-music 
scores  of  even  the  later  period  are  within  his  reach  ?  In 
respect  to  the  majority  of  composers  and  schools  he  must 
depend  upon  the  reports  of  special  European  investigators. 
Those  composers  of  the  first  order  whose  works  exist  in 


X 


INTRODUCTION 


modern  inexpensive  editions  must,  little  by  little,  be 
known  to  him  by  means  of  private  reading  and  attendance 
upon  concerts,  but  even  here  he  must  not  go  to  the  extreme 
of  personal  independence  and  neglect  the  commentaries 
of  those  of  far  greater  experience  and  acumen  than 
himself.  These  commentaries  will  not  merely  inform, 
they  will  suggest  and  stimulate,  and  prevent  or  correct 
false  direction  and  narrow  views. 

It  is  hoped  that  public  and  school  libraries  will  give 
more  assistance  to  this  important  branch  of  study  than 
they  have  afforded  in  the  past.  Musical  art  should 
receive  as  much  attention  from  them  as  painting,  and 
for  precisely  the  same  reason.  Every  library  that  makes 
any  pretention  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  community  it 
serves  should  contain  at  least  Grove's  Dictionary  of 
Music  and  Musicians,  both  series  of  Famous  Composers 
and  Their  Works,  and  the  Oxford  History  of  Music. 
These  are  especially  mentioned  because  their  cost  keeps 
them  out  of  the  hands  of  perhaps  the  majority  of  students. 
But  the  library  should  not  stop  with  them.  Copies  of 
the  chief  musical  works  should  also  be  added  to  as  great 
an  extent  as  the  library's  means  permit.  Musicians  and 
students  may  properly  combine  to  enforce  this  most 
reasonable  demand. 

The  references  to  Grove's  Dictionary  apply  to  the  first 
edition  of  1879-1890.  The  new  edition  now  appearing 
will  eventually  supplant  the  other,  but  the  plan  and  list 
of  subjects  will  be  so  nearly  the  same  that  the  references 
given  in  this  book  will  require  little  or  no  modification. 


INTRODUCTION 


xi 


References  to  periodicals  might  properly  have  been 
omitted  altogether,  but  a  few  have  been  included  on 
account  of  the  special  importance  of  the  articles  cited. 

E.  D. 

Oberlin  College, 
June,  1905. 


CONTENTS 


Page 


I.   Primitive  Music   1 

II.    Music  of  the  Ancient  Cultured  Nations  : 
Assyrians,   Egyptians,  Hebrews,  Greeks, 

and  Romans   6 

III.  Song  in  the  Early  Christian  Church    .    .  14 

IV.  The  Catholic  Liturgy   19 

V.   The  Catholic  Liturgic  Chant   22 

VI.   Beginnings  of  Polyphonic  Music.  Popular 

Music  in  the  Middle  Ages   29 

VII.   The  Age  of  the  Netherlanders,  1400-1550  38 

VIII.    Choral  Music  of  the  Sixteenth  Century  .  42 

IX.   Early  German  Protestant  Music      ...  50 

X.   Protestant  Church  Music  in  England    •    .  56 

XL   The  Madrigal — The  Opera — Modern  To- 
nality   64 

XII.   Early  Growth  cf  Instrumental  Music  .    .  72 

XIII.  The  Violin  and  its  Music  :   First  Stages 

of  the  Suite  and  Sonata   77 

XIV.  Keyed  Chamber  Instruments  :  Progress  of 

the  Clavier  Suite  and  Sonata      ...  82 

y  XV.   The  Italian   Opera  in  the  Seventeenth 

Century   90 


xiv 


CONTENTS 


Page 


XVI. 

The   Opera   Buffa,   Seventeenth  and 

96 

XVII. 

Rise  of  the  Opera  in  France,  Seven- 

1  A  A 

'ITT 

AV  111. 

Italian  Opera  Seria  in  the  Eighteenth 
Century   

105 

XIX. 

Introduction  of  the  Italian  Dramatic 
Forms  into  German  Religious  Music 

113 

XX. 

Johann  Sebastian  Bach,  1685-1750  . 

119 

XXI. 

George  Frederick  Handel,  1685-1759  . 

131 

XXII. 

Opjera-Comique  in  the  Eighteenth  Cen- 

142 

XXIII. 

Christoph  Willibald  Gluck,  1714-1787 

146 

XXIV. 

Joseph  Haydn,  1732-1809   

153 

XXV. 

Wolfgang  Amade  Mozart,  1756-1791  . 

162 

XXVI. 

Ludwig  van  Beethoven,  1770-1827  .  . 

171 

XXVII. 

The  German  Romantic  Opera.  Carl 

Maria  von  Weber,  1786-1826  ...  185 

XXVIII.    The  German  Lied.     Franz  Schubert, 

1797-1828    198 

XXIX.   Piano  Playing  to  about  1830  ....  211 

XXX.    Robert  Schumann,  1810-1856  ....  220 

XXXI.    Felix   Mendelssohn-Bartholdy,  1809- 

1847    232 

XXXII.   Frederic  Chopin,  1809-1849    ....  243 

XXXIII.  Programme  Music   251 

XXXIV.  Hector  Berlioz,  1803-1869    260 

XXXV.    Franz  Liszt.  1811-1886    271 


CONTENTS  xv 

Page 

XXXVI.   The  Opera  in  the  Nineteenth  Century 

to  about  1850.    L  Italian  Opera    .  283 

XXXVII.    The  Opera  in  the  Nineteenth  Century 

to  about  1850.    II.  French  Opera  .  293 

XXXVIII.   Richard  Wagner,  1813-1883  ....  308 

XXXIX.   Recent  Music  in  Germany  and  Austria  .  331 

XL.   Recent  Music  in  France   347 

XLI.   Recent  Music  in  Italy   359 

XLIL   Recent  Music  in  Russia,  Bohemia,  and 

Scandinavia    366 

XLIII.    Recent  Music  in  England  and  America  379 

Bibliographical  List   387 

Index   401 


» 


THE  STUDY  OF 
THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


i 

PRIMITIVE  MUSIC 

The  origin  of  music  is  a  speculative  and  not  properly 
an  historical  question,  since  in  the  nature  of  the  case 
records  must  be  lacking.  Framers  of  philosophic  sys- 
tems and  special  writers  upon  aesthetics  have  offered 
explanations  of  the  primitive  musical  impulse  under  the 
guise  of  corollaries  from  the  known  facts  of  mind. 
Others  have  sought  light  upon  the  subject  through  ob- 
servations upon  the  musical  practices  of  savages.  In 
both  methods  the  first  stage  of  musical  effort  can  be 
conceived  and  described  only  by  inference.  No  theory 
of  the  origin  of  music  has  yet  been  suggested  that  is 
acceptable  to  all  students  of  the  problem.  The  question 
is  of  interest  on  account  of  its  bearing  upon  musical 
psychology  and  aesthetics,  for  such  is  the  continuity  of 
intellectual  progress  that  certain  of  the  most  essential 
elements  in  the  most  advanced  stages  of  musical  experi- 
ence may  be  found  in  embryo  in  the  musical  operations 
of  rude  races,  and  each  of  these  extreme  phases  of 
musical  culture  contains  facts  that  help  to  throw  light 
upon  the  other. 

1 


2       THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


Among  the  numerous  theories  of  the  origin  of  music 
the  most  prominent  in  recent  discussions  are  those  of 
Darwin  in  The  Descent  of  Man,  vol.  ii,  chap.  19,  and 
Spencer  in  Illustrations  of  Universal  Progress:  The 
Origin  and  Function  of  Music,  and  Professional  Institu- 
tions :  Dancer  and  Musician.  Darwin  holds  that  mu- 
sical notes  and  rhythm  were  first  acquired  by  the  male 
and  female  progenitors  of  mankind  for  the  sake  of  charm- 
ing the  opposite  sex.  This  theory,  although  advocated 
by  the  eminent  psychologist,  Edmund  Gurney  (see  Gur- 
ney, The  Power  of  Sound,  chap.  6),  has  now  little  follow- 
ing among  scholars. 

For  objections  to  Darwin's  theory  see  Wallaschek,  Primitive 
Music,  chap.  9;  Rowbotham,  History  of  Music,  vol.  i;  Knight,  The 
Philosophy  of  the  Beautiful,  part  ii. 

Herbert  Spencer  tries  to  show  that  u  song  employs  and 
exaggerates  the  natural  language  of  the  emotions  "  ;  that 
"  vocal  music,  and  by  consequence  all  music,  is  an  ideal- 
ization of  the  natural  language  of  passion/' 

This  theory,  known  as  "  the  speech  theory,"  has  been  effectively 
combated  by  Wallaschek,  Primitive  Music,  chap.  9  ;  by  Gurney,  The 
Power  of  Sound,  chap.  21 ;  and  by  Knight,  The  Philosophy  of  the 
Beautiful,  part  ii. 

The  most  accredited  of  the  more  recent  theories  is 
that  of  Wallaschek,  in  his  Primitive  Music.  He  derives 
music  from  the  rhythmical  impulse  in  man,  —  melody 
comes  from  rhythm  and  not  rhythm  from  melody.  In- 
strumental music  precedes  vocal. 

An  interesting  discussion  of  this  subject  may  be  found  in  Parry, 
The  Evolution  of  the  Art  of  Music.  See  also  Riemann,  Catechism  of 
Musical  Aesthetics. 


PRIMITIVE  MUSIC 


3 


As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  history  of  music  cannot  be  led 
back  to  a  priority  of  either  melody  or  rhythm.  The  ques- 
tion turns  upon  the  definition  of  music.  Not  until  sen- 
sible differences  of  pitch  co-exist  with  definite  groupings 
of  notes  under  some  recognized  principle  of  order  does 
music  properly  begin. 

The  subject  of  primitive  music  —  i.e.  the  musical 
practices  of  savages  and  ancient  and  modern  cultured 
nations  whose  music  appears  in  its  simpler  unprogressive 
states,  such  as  the  Assyrians,  Egyptians,  Hindus  and 
Chinese  —  can  be  followed  to  any  extent  to  which  the 
curiosity  of  the  student  may  lead  him  by  means  of  books 
of  travel,  treatises  on  folk  music,  etc.  Time  might  eas- 
ily be  wasted  in  this  field,  but  a  few  generalizations  are 
important. 

In  the  first  place,  musical  instruments  may  be  classi- 
fied and  their  uses  noted.  The  three  modern  orders  of 
instruments,  viz.  stringed,  wind  and  percussive  instru- 
ments, exist  among  savages.  Wallaschek  asserts,  con- 
trary to  the  general  supposition,  that  the  pipe  form  is 
the  oldest. 

Wallaschek,  Primitive  Music,  gives  a  long  account  of  primitive 
instruments  and  their  uses.  See  also  Engel,  Musical  Instruments 
(South  Kensington  Art  Handbooks)  ;  Elson,  Curiosities  of  Music. 

The  history  of  primitive  music  is  of  interest  only  as  a 
department  of  culture  history.  Note  (1)  that  music  in 
this  stage  is  a  social  art ;  (2)  that  it  has  a  definite  utilita- 
rian purpose  over  and  above  the  mere  pleasing  of  the  ear ; 
(3)  that  it  is  not  a  free  independent  art,  but  is  connected 
with  poetic  recitation  and  dancing,  usually  under  the 
stimulation  of  religious  emotion.    Music  and  the  dance 


4       THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


are  almost  inseparable ;  the  dance  is  usually  dramatic  or 
ceremonial ;  the  symbolic  dance  and  the  choral  ode  are 
the  foundation  of  music  and  the  drama.  "  The  festival 
creates  the  artist "  (Baldwin  Brown). 

On  the  festal  origin  of  art  see  Brown,  The  Fine  Arts;  Popular 
Science  Monthly,  April,  1893,  The  Festal  Development  of  Art;  Popu- 
lar Science  Monthly,  September,  1893,  The  Origin  of  Literary  Forms  ; 
Spencer,  Professional  Institutions  :  Dancer  and  Musician,  in  last  edi- 
tion of  Principles  of  Sociology ;  more  particularly  in  regard  to  the 
practice  of  music  in  connection  with  dancing  and  ceremony,  Wal- 
laschek,  Primitive  Music,  chaps.  7  and  8. 

"  The  features  which  give  folk  music  its  chief  artistic 
and  historic  importance  are  those  which  manifest  the 
working  of  the  perfectly  unconscious  instinct  for  de- 
sign, and  those  in  which  the  emotional  and  intellectual 
basis  of  the  art  is  illustrated  by  the  qualities  of  the  times 
which  correspond  with  the  known  characters  of  the  na- 
tions and  peoples  who  invent  them.  .  .  .  Folk  music  is 
an  epitome  of  the  principles  upon  which  musical  art  is 
founded  "  (Parry,  The  Evolution  of  the  Art  of  Music). 

The  standard  work  on  the  music  of  the  lower  races  is  Wallaschek, 
Primitive  Music.  Parry's  chapter  in  The  Evolution  of  the  Art  of 
Music  is  an  excellent  summary  of  the  subject.  Interesting  and 
valuable  studies  upon  the  songs  of  North  American  Indians,  par- 
ticularly the  Omaha  tribe,  have  been  made  by  Miss  Alice  C.  Fletcher 
and  Prof.  John  C.  Fillmore,  and  the  results  published  in  vol.  i,  no. 
5,  of  the  archaeological  and  ethnological  papers  of  the  Peabody 
Museum,  Harvard  University ;  also  in  the  Century  Magazine,  Music, 
and  other  periodicals.  A  popular  book  on  this  subject  by  Miss 
Fletcher  is  Indian  Song  and  Story  from  North  America.  Tylor's 
Anthropology  contains  a  chapter  on  the  music  of  savages.  See  also 
Grosse,  The  Beginnings  of  Art.  A  large  number  of  primitive  and 
national  songs  may  be  found  in  The  National,  Patriotic,  and  Typical 
Songs  of  all  Lands,  compiled  by  John  Philip  Sousa. 


PRIMITIVE  MUSIC 


5 


Printed  examples  of  savage  music  must  always  be 
taken  with  caution,  for  in  many  cases  it  is  probable  that 
they  have  not  been  correctly  transcribed  by  reason  of 
lack  of  precision  on  the  part  of  the  reporter.  Neither  is 
it  to  be  supposed  that  the  savage  singer  always  realizes 
his  own  intention. 

The  scale  systems  of  the  lower  races  form  a  subject  of 
great  interest  and  difficulty.  "  The  history  of  the  scale 
is  essentially  the  history  of  music  itself  in  its  early  ex- 
istence "  (Pole,  The  Philosophy  of  Music).  The  question 
arises,  is  there  such  a  thing  as  a  "  natural "  scale,  or  are 
all  scales  alike  artificial  ?  How  are  the  great  varieties  of 
scales  among  different  peoples  and  in  different  times  to  be 
explained  ?  Have  regular  scales  ever  been  developed  by 
means  of  the  ear  and  voice  alone,  or  is  some  instrument 
always  necessary  ?  Are  the  primitive  melodies  based  on 
melodic  successions  merely,  or  are  harmonic  relations 
implied  ?  Were  scales  in  most  cases  developed  upward 
or  downward  ?  On  what  principles  is  the  selection  of 
sounds  made  to  form  an  allowable  musical  scale  ? 

Helmholtz,  On  the  Sensations  of  Tone,  English  translation  with 
copious  notes  by  A.  J.  Ellis.  A  briefer,  but  valuable  work,  based 
on  Helmholtz,  is  Pole,  The  Philosophy  of  Music.  Parry  gives  large 
attention  to  the  subject  in  The  Evolution  of  the  Art  of  Music,  chap.  2. 
See  also  Wallaschek,  Primitive  Music,  chap.  4.  For  rhythm  in 
primitive  music  see  Wallaschek,  chap.  4;  Pole,  chap.  13.  For  in- 
stances of  harmony  among  savages,  Wallaschek,  chap.  4.  A  book 
of  special  interest  at  present  is  Piggott,  Music  and  Musical  Instru- 
ments of  Japan. 


II 


MUSIC  OF  THE  ANCIENT  CULTURED  NATIONS  : 
ASSYRIANS,  EGYPTIANS,  HEBREWS,  GREEKS  AND 
ROMANS 

Music  in  ancient  times,  with  the  possible  exception 
of  that  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans  just  before  and  after 
the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era,  belongs  to  culture 
history  rather  than  to  the  history  of  art.  With  the 
exception  of  a  few  fragments,  some  of  them  doubtful, 
no  melodies  of  the  pre-Christian  period  have  come  down 
to  us.  No  theoretical  treatises  have  survived  from  any 
nation  older  in  civilization  than  the  Greeks.  There  is 
no  reason  to  suppose  that  music  among  the  Oriental 
monarchies  ever  progressed  much  beyond  its  condition 
among  barbarous  peoples  of  the  present  day.  Music 
was  not  a  free  art,  but  was  held  in  almost  complete 
dependence  upon  poetry,  dancing  and  religious  cere- 
mony. The  general  principles  established  by  the  study 
of  savage  music  (chap,  i)  would  apply  equally  to  the 
music  of  the  ancient  civilized  nations.  No  distinctive 
national  styles  can  be  inferred  among  the  Assyrians, 
Egyptians  and  Hebrews.  All  these  nations  paid  ex- 
treme reverence  to  music.  The  laws  of  musical  practice 
were  largely  under  the  control  of  the  priestly  class. 
Music  was  rude,  simple  and  unprogressive.  Harmony 
was  evidently  unknown.    Musical  rhythm  conformed  to 


THE  ANCIENT  CULTURED  NATIONS  7 

that  of  verse  and  the  dance  step.  The  effect  of  music 
upon  the  mind,  and  its  efficiency  in  education  and  worship, 
were  largely  due  to  the  association  of  certain  melodies 
and  instruments  with  moral,  religious  and  patriotic  ideas. 

The  most  direct  evidence  in  respect  to  the  musical 
practice  of  the  most  ancient  nations  is  derived  from  the 
representations  of  instruments  and  players  upon  the 
Assyrian  and  Egyptian  monuments.  The  subject  of 
Egyptian  music  is  especially  interesting  on  account  of 
the  influence  exerted  by  Egypt  upon  the  art  and  science 
of  Greece.  Knowledge  of  many  of  the  laws  of  acoustics, 
the  division  of  the  monochord,  etc.,  besides  certain  musi- 
cal practices,  were  probably  transmitted  to  Greece  from 
Egypt. 

Pictures  of  Assyrian,  Egyptian  and  Hebrew  instruments,  with 
descriptions  of  their  construction  and  use,  may  be  found  in  Nau- 
mann,  History  of  Music,  vol.  i  ;  Engel,  Music  of  the  Most  Ancient 
Natioris ;  Chappell,  History  of  Music;  Engel,  Musical  Instruments 
(South  Kensington  Art  Handbooks).  The  numerous  works  on  As- 
syrian and  Egyptian  archaeology,  dictionaries  of  the  Bible,  etc., 
give  space  to  music  and  musical  instruments.  Chappell  emphasizes 
the  connection  between  the  Greek  and  Egyptian  musical  systems. 

For  obvious  reasons  the  student  will  turn  to  the  music 
of  the  Hebrews  with  greater  interest  than  to  that  of  any 
other  ancient  nation  except  the  Greeks.  The  common 
supposition  that  the  Hebrews  had  highly  developed 
music  in  connection  with  their  worship  may  easily  be 
shown  to  have  no  foundation.  There  is  no  reason  to 
suppose  that  music  with  them  was  any  farther  advanced 
than  among  the  Assyrians  and  Egyptians.  It  was  un- 
harmonic,  simple  and  inclined  to  be  coarse  and  noisy; 
it  had  a  place  in  military  operations,  at  feasts,  private 


8       THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


merry-makings,  etc.,  but  its  chief  value  lay  in  its  availa- 
bility for  religious  uses.  "  The  music  of  the  Hebrews 
was  divine  service,  not  art"  (Ambros,  Geschichte  der 
Musik).  Their  instruments  were  plainly  identical  with 
those  of  their  neighbors,  the  Assyrians  and  Egyptians. 
They  had  probably  about  twenty  different  instruments, 
but  there  is  much  confusion  in  regard  to  their  names 
and  character. 

Stainer,  The  Music  of  the  Bible,  gives  an  extended  discussion  of 
Hebrew  instruments,  with  references  to  passages  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment where  instruments  are  mentioned ;  this  interesting  work  is 
unfortunately  out  of  print.  References  in  the  Bible  to  instruments  : 
Gen.  iv.  21 ;  Num.  x.  2-8 ;  1  Sam.  x.  5  ;  1  Chron.  xiii.  8  ;  2  Chron. 
v.  11-14,  xxix.  26-28.}  See  also  Engel,  The  Music  of  the  Most  Ancient 
Nations,  and  Musical  Instruments ;  Xaumann,  History  of  Music,  vol. 
i ;  McClintock  and  Strong's  Cyclopedia  of  Biblical,  Theological,  and 
Ecclesiastical  Literature,  article  Musical  Instruments ;  standard  dic- 
tionaries of  the  Bible. 

There  is  no  proof  that  any  of  the  ancient  Hebrew 
melodies  have  come  down  to  us.  Hebrew  poetry,  like 
that  of  all  ancient  nations,  was  always  intoned  or  chanted. 
The  cantillation  of  the  modern  Jewish  synagogue  is  a 
traditional  survival  of  the  ancient  usage.  Lyric  poetry 
predominated  in  ancient  Hebrew  literature.  The  pe- 
culiar structure  of  Hebrew  poetry  known  as  parallelism 
may  be  noted  as  probably  indicating  an  antiphonal 
manner  of  singing,  as  in  the  Church  of  England  to-day. 
Superscriptions  (not  retained  in  the  King  James  or  the 
revised  versions)  such  as,  "  After  the  song  beginning, 
Hind  of  the  Dawn,"  and  "  After  lilies,"  suggest  that 
some  of  the  psalms  may  have  been  set  to  secular  tunes. 
An  elaborate  musical  service,  both  vocal  and  instru- 


THE  ANCIENT  CULTURED  NATIONS  9 


mental,  was  organized  in  connection  with  the  temple 
worship.  The  female  voice  was  evidently  not  employed, 
—  the  allusions  to  "  women  singers  "  apply  to  other 
occasions  than  the  temple  ceremony. 

Stainer,  The  Music  of  the  Bible;  Dickinson,  Music  in  the  History 
of  the  Western  Church.  The  organization  of  priests  and  Levites  for 
the  temple  music  is  described  in  1  Chron.  xvi.  4-6,  xxiii.  5,  and 
xxv.  See  2  Chron.  v.  11-14.  Revival  of  the  musical  service  under 
Hezekiah,  2  Chron.  xxix.  25-30 ;  and  under  Ezra  and  Nehemiah, 
Ezra  iii.  10,  11 ;  Neh.  xii. 

The  archaic  melodies  and  tonalities  found  in  the 
modern  synagogue  song  books  of  many  countries  have 
much  interest,  but  their  connection  with  the  music  of 
the  old  Jewish  monarchy  or  with  the  synagogue  worship 
of  the  time  of  Christ  cannot  be  proved  or  disproved. 
The  adoption  of  ancient  Jewish  melodies  by  the  early 
Christians,  and  their  influence  upon  the  Plain  Song  of 
the  Catholic  church,  is  also  mere  conjecture. 

The  Music  of  the  Greeks  is  distinguished  from 
that  of  all  the  other  ancient  nations  not  only  by  its 
greater  refinement  and  scientific  elaboration,  but  also  by 
the  fact  that  the  Greeks  first  began  to  divine  its  powers 
as  a  free  independent  art.  They  developed  a  rational 
scale  system  based  on  a  knowledge  of  acoustic  laws, 
their  philosophers  subjected  the  esthetics  of  music  to  a 
minute  examination,  they  devised  a  tolerably  accurate 
system  of  notation  which  has  survived.  The  Greek 
musical  system  was  the  precursor  of  that  of  the  early 
Christian  church,  and  the  line  of  descent  is  unbroken 
from  Greece,  through  Rome,  to  the  Middle  Ages  and 
modern  times. 


10      THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


The  tendency  of  music,  especially  instrumental,  to 
break  away  from  the  constraints  in  which  it  was  held  in 
antiquity,  and  develop  laws  and  powers  of  expression 
peculiarly  its  own,  belongs  to  a  late  period  of  Greek 
history.  During  the  great  literary  period,  from  about 
1000  to  400  B.C.,  Greek  music  conformed  to  the  general 
law  of  ancient  music  in  its  subjection  to  poetry  and 
pantomime.  Extreme  reverence  was  paid  to  it ;  it  was 
believed  to  have  had  a  superhuman  origin ;  it  was 
indispensable  in  religious  ceremony,  festivals  and  all 
the  functions  of  social  life.  It  was  universally  con- 
sidered a  necessary  element  in  the  education  of  youth, 
and  was  believed  to  have  a  direct  influence  for  good 
and  also,  in  certain  of  its  manifestations,  for  evil. 
Musical  contests  were  a  marked  feature  of  the  national 
games,  especially  the  Pythian.  All  classes  of  society, 
all  employments  of  labor  or  amusement,  had  their  appro- 
priate songs.  The  religious  cults,  particularly  those  of 
Apollo  and  Dionysos,  gave  powerful  stimulus  to  special 
phases  of  musical  practice. 

The  different  stages  of  Greek  vocal  music  are  coin- 
cident with  the  several  poetic  periods,  viz.  the  epic,  lyric 
and  dramatic.  Poetry,  even  the  gnomic,  was  always 
musically  rendered.  Classes  of  melodies  called  nomoi 
were  derived  from  certain  conspicuous  musicians,  associ- 
ated with  particular  occasions  and  uses,  or  traced  to  the 
public  practice  of  certain  nations  or  tribes  that  had 
endowed  them  with  traditional  qualities  of  expression. 
Music  in  the  poetic  age  tended  to  become  symbolic  and 
conventional,  although  to  a  much  less  extent  than  in 
Egypt-   Vocal  music  was  simplest  in  the  intoned  recita- 


THE  ANCIENT  CULTURED  NATIONS  11 


tions  of  the  rhapsodists,  becoming  more  tuneful  in  the 
rendering  of  lyric  poetry  and  the  choruses  of  the  drama. 
The  arts  of  music,  poetry  and  action  were  united  in  the 
drama,  rhythm  being  their  common  element.  Melody 
was  less  important  than  rhythm ;  the  elaborate  metrical 
system  in  poetry  was  applied  to  music,  the  two  forming 
a  single  composite  art.  The  object  of  vocal  music  was 
simply  to  add  force  and  emotional  quality  to  verse. 
(Xote  the  contrast  in  modern  song,  in  which  verse 
rhythm  yields  to  musical  rhythm,  the  latter  being  the 
dominating  power.)  The  Greek  ideal  of  the  arts  of 
poetry,  music  and  action,  first  exemplified  in  the 
Athenian  theatre,  greatly  influenced  the  experiments 
out  of  which  came  the  modern  opera,  particularly  the 
dramas  of  Gluck  and  Wagner. 

Greek  music  in  the  classic  age  was  reserved  and  deli- 
cate. Rhythm  was  more  studied  than  tune.  The  ex- 
tent to  which  harmony  was  known  and  practised  is  a 
vexed  question.  There  is  no  doubt  that  Greek  music 
was  essentially  melodic,  but  there  were  occasional  de- 
partures from  unison  and  octave  relations  in  the  com- 
bination of  voices  and  instruments,  especially  at  final 
cadences. 

In  spite  of  the  labors  of  modern  scholarship,  Greek 
theory  remains  a  perplexing  subject.  How  far  the 
elaborate  systems  of  the  later  theorists,  such  as  Aris- 
toxenus,  Euclid  and  Ptolemy,  corresponded  to  actual 
practice,  and  how  far  mathematics  was  allowed  to  be- 
wilder the  natural  musical  sense,  cannot  be  certainly 
known.  A  regulated  modal  system,  based  upon  the 
tetrachord,  existed  in  very  early  times,  but  no  definite 


12     THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


information  concerning  it  can  be  obtained  until  we  reach 
the  time  of  Pythagoras,  sixth  century  B.C.  Seven  modes, 
or  octave  species,  were  developed  —  the  diatonic  system. 
A  chromatic  and  an  enharmonic  system  are  recognized 
by  the  later  theorists.  A  system  of  notation  has  been 
recorded. 

The  study  of  Greek  music  divides  into  two  departments  :  (1)  its 
place  in  culture  history,  its  relation  to  religion  and  social  life,  the 
views  held  by  the  Greek  sages  in  regard  to  its  action  upon  emotion 
and  character;  (2)  Greek  musical  theory,  comprising  rhythm  and 
the  scale  and  notation  systems.  For  general  views  of  the  various 
aspects  of  Greek  music  see  the  musical  histories,  such  as  those  of 
Chappell,  Naumann  and  Rowbotham,  and  the  Oxford  History  of 
Music,  vol.  i.  There  are  more  condensed  accounts  in  Riemann's 
Catechism  of  Musical  History,  part  ii,  and  Langhans'  History  of 
Music  in  Twelve  Lectures.  Chappell's  single  volume  is  almost  wholly 
devoted  to  Greek  music.  Rowbotham,  in  his  earlier  history,  is  very 
full  and  minute,  but  his  style  is  inflated  and  diffuse.  His  work 
has  been  improved  by  condensation  into  one  volume. 

The  histories  of  Greek  poetry,  especially  those  devoted  to  the 
drama,  give  more  or  less  attention  to  music.  Among  those  es- 
pecially to  be  recommended  are  Haigh,  The  Attic  Theatre,  and 
Moulton,  The  Ancient  Classical  Drama. 

The  student  will  find  the  Greek  scale  system  bewildering  on 
account  of  lack  of  clearness  on  the  part  of  many  writers,  and  their 
frequent  disagreement.  For  a  condensed  and  lucid  treatment  of  the 
subject  see  Williams,  The  Story  of  Notation ;  also  Parry,  The  Evo- 
lution of  the  Art  of  Music.  For  more  detail,  Oxford  History  of  Music, 
vol.  i ;  Pole,  Philosophy  of  Music ;  Stainer  and  Barrett's  Dictionary  of 
Musical  Terms  j  Riemann's  Dictionary  of  Music.  For  a  still  more 
elaborate  treatment,  Helmholtz,  On  the  Sensations  of  Tone ;  Chap- 
pell, History  of  Music;  Rowbotham,  History  of  Music. 

The  typical  instruments  of  the  Greeks  were  the  lyre 
and  the  flute.  Harsh,  noisy  instruments  were  avoided 
except  in  some  of  the  orgiastic  worships  which  came  into 
Greece  from  Asia.    During  the  classic  age  instrumental 


THE  ANCIENT  CULTURED  NATIONS  13 


music  was  subordinate  to  vocal ;  it  was  used  to  accom- 
pany poetic  recitation  and  lead  the  measures  of  the 
dance.  Independent  solo  playing  gradually  developed  ; 
the  virtuoso  age  closed  the  era  of  Greek  artistic  music. 
Love  of  technical  display  and  increase  in  the  size  and 
complexity  of  instruments  were  considered  by  the  more 
serious  thinkers  a  sign  of  degeneracy. 

For  Greek  instruments,  the  histories  above  mentioned ;  wood- 
cuts in  Naumann  and  Chappell.  Also  Engel,  Musical  Instruments  ; 
Riemann,  Catechism  of  Musical  History,  part  i. 

A  faint  light  has  been  thrown  upon  the  nature  of  Greek  melody 
by  the  discovery  at  Delphi  in  1893  of  hymns  with  musical  notation. 
These  have  been  published  in  modern  notation  by  Novello,  Lon- 
don, and  Reinach,  Paris.  See  also  The  Musical  Times  (London), 
May  1  and  June  1,  1894,  and  Williams,  The  Story  of  Notation. 

Pagan  Rome  made  no  contribution  to  musical  prog- 
ress. The  Romans  derived  their  instruments,  melodies 
and  musical  methods  chiefly  from  the  Etruscans  and 
Greeks,  particularly  the  latter.  It  was  a  degenerate 
form  of  music  that  was  used  in  temple,  theatre  and  cir- 
cus in  the  time  of  the  empire.  The  domestic  music, 
essentially  Greek,  was  of  a  somewhat  purer  character. 
The  only  important  musical  treatise  for  which  we  are 
indebted  to  Rome  is  the  De  Musica  of  Boethius  (died 
524  A.D.),  which  had  great  influence  upon  the  music 
of  the  mediseval  church. 

Histories  by  Naumann  and  Rowbotham. 


Ill 


SONG  IN  THE  EARLY  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH 

The  age  of  the  apostles  and  the  fathers  of  the  Chris- 
tian church  possesses  an  interest  for  the  student  of 
church  music  analogous  to  that  which  the  same  period 
offers  to  students  of  doctrine,  liturgiology  and  church 
government.  The  subjects  of  inquiry  include  the  rise 
of  liturgies,  rites  and  ceremonies,  and  their  alliance 
with  music ;  the  origin  and  use  of  hymns ;  the  founda- 
tion of  the  liturgic  chant;  the  degree  of  participation 
enjoyed  by  the  laity  at  the  beginning,  and  the  causes  of 
the  abandonment  of  congregational  singing  in  the  eu- 
charistic  service  and  the  transference  of  this  office  to 
a  choir  of  minor  clericals.  The  tendency  by  which 
church  music  became  essentially  ritualistic  and  clerical 
was  a  phase  of  the  transition  from  the  simple  and  homo- 
geneous system  of  the  apostolic  age  to  the  hierarchical 
organization  which  became  consolidated  under  the 
Western  popes  and  Eastern  patriarchs. 

A  thorough  study  of  this  subject  involves  a  general  view  of 
ch  ch  history  and  liturgies  in  the  early  Christian  centuries. 
Among  the  great  number  of  authorities  may  be  mentioned : 
Schaff,  History  of  the  Christian  Church;  Milman,  History  of  Latin 
Christianity ;  Pressense,  Early  Years  of  Christianity ;  Fisher,  His- 
tory of  the  Christian  Church;  Alzog,  Universal  Church  History  (a 
standard  work  written  from  the  Catholic  standpoint) ;  Stanley, 
Lectures  on  the  History  of  the  Eastern  Church.    These  works  con- 


/ 


SONG  IN  THE  EARLY  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH  15 


tain  general  accounts  of  pre-Gregorian  liturgies.  For  the  liturgies 
themselves,  or  a  more  detailed  account  of  them :  the  liturgies  of 
St.  Mark,  St.  James,  etc.,  translated  into  English  in  the  Ante- 
Nicene  Christian  Library,  Edinburgh,  Clark;  the  Constitutions  of  the 
Apostles,  translated,  same  series  ;  McClintock  and  Strong's  Cyclo- 
pedia, article  Liturgies ;  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  article  Liturgies  ; 
Neale,  Lectures  on  Liturgiology  and  Church  History. 

For  the  synagogue  worship  as  the  basis  of  that  of  the  churches 
of  Jerusalem  and  Syria:  McClintock  and  Strong's  Cyclopedia,  ar- 
ticle Synagogue ;  Schaff,  History  of  the  Christian  Church,  vol.  i, 
chap.  9. 

There  are  but  scanty  allusions  in  contemporary  rec- 
ords to  the  practice  of  singing  among  the  Christians  of 
the  first  two  or  three  centuries.  St.  Paul  alludes  to 
"  psalms,  hymns  and  spiritual  songs "  (Eph.  v.  19 ; 
Col.  iii.  16).  The  exact  meaning  of  this  division  is  not 
clear.  The  glossolalia,  or  "speaking  with  tongues," 
upon  which  St.  Paul  discourses  in  1  Cor.  xiv.,  was  a 
sort  of  textless  vocal  ebullition  poured  forth  under  the 
stress  of  religious  excitement.  This  practice  may  be 
traced  back  to  ancient  times  in  Greece  and  Egypt;  it 
was  analogous  to  the  long  flourishes  still  common  in 
Oriental  music,  and  has  perhaps  survived  in  the  "  jubi- 
lations," or  "  melismas,"  of  the  Catholic  chant. 

SchafE  has  a  full  discussion  of  the  glossolalia  in  his  History  of  the 
Christian  Church,  vol.  i,  sec.  24. 

The  early  Christian  hymnody  may  receive  some  at- 
tention here,  although  no  trace  or  description  of  the 
primitive  melodies  remains.  It  is  probable  that  at  first 
the  psalms  were  exclusively  used.  Original  hymns 
were  soon  composed.  Fragments  of  early  hymns  are 
supposed  to  exist  imbedded  in  the  Pauline  epistles  and 


16      THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


the  Book  of  Revelation:  e.  g.  Eph.  v.  14;  1  Tim. 
iii.  16;  2  Tim.  ii.  11;  Rev.  iv.  11,  v.  9-13,  xi.  15-18, 
xv.  3,  4.  The  origin  and  early  form  of  the  great  un- 
metrical  hymns  is  important,  viz.  Grloria  in  excelsis, 
Gloria  patri,  Te  Deum,  Magnificat,  Benedictus  and 
Nunc  dimittis, 

Julian's  Dictionary  of  Hymnology  is  the  standard  authority  on  this 
and  kindred  subjects.  See  also  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  article 
Hymns;  McClintock  and  Strong's  Cyclopedia;  Smith  and  Cheet- 
ham's  Dictionary  of  Christian  Antiquities ;  Dickinson,  Music  in  the 
History  of  the  Western  Church.  For  translations  of  some  of  the 
early  Syrian  and  Greek  hymns:  Neale,  Hymns  of  the  Eastern 
Church. 

The  most  important  fact  in  the  history  of  the  music 
of  the  church  in  the  first  four  or  five  centuries  is  the 
transfer  of  the  office  of  song  from  the  laity  to  a  choir 
composed  of  clericals.  (It  must  be  understood  that  this 
applies  to  the  eucharistic  service ;  a  distinction  should 
be  made  between  liturgic  and  non-liturgic  song.) 
This  change  took  place  everywhere,  but  at  different 
periods,  and  was  necessarily  involved  in  the  develop- 
ment of  sacerdotalism.  Song  was  conceived  as  a  part  of 
the  office  of  prayer,  therefore  a  clerical  prerogative. 
Another  motive,  perhaps,  was  the  necessity  of  prevent- 
ing the  intrusion  of  heretical  doctrines,  for  the  numerous 
heretics  of  the  time  depended  much  upon  hymn  sing- 
ing for  the  propagation  of  their  ideas.  The  partici- 
pation of  the  people  was  eventually  confined  to  brief 
responses  and  ejaculations.  A  few  of  these,  notably 
Kyrie  eleison,  survive  to-day  in  the  Catholic  liturgy. 
A  few  scattered  allusions  antedating  this  change  de- 
scribe the  Christians  as  singing  psalms  and  hymns  an- 


SONG  IN  THE  EARLY  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH  17 

tiphonally ;  e.  g.  the  letter  of  the  younger  Pliny  to  the 
emperor  Trajan  from  Bithynia,  112  a.d.  A  similar 
practice  existed  in  the  church  of  Antioch,  second  cen- 
tury. This  custom  of  alternate  singing  was  carried  from 
Syria  to  Milan  and  Rome. 

A  decree  of  the  Council  of  Laodicea,  fourth  century,  forbidding 
the  laity  to  share  in  the  liturgic  song,  is  given  by  Hefele,  History  of 
the  Councils  of  the  Church  to  Jfil  A.D.,  trans,  by  Clarke.  See 
also  McClintock  and  Strong's  Cyclopedia,  articles  Music  and  Sing- 
ing;  Dickinson,  Music  in  the  History  of  the  Western  Church,  chap.  2. 

A  new  era  in  the  history  of  church  worship  begins 
with  the  edicts  of  Constantine,  fourth  century,  officially 
recognizing  the  religion  of  Christ.  The  history  of 
church  music  and  poetry  in  the  East  ends  with  the 
separation  of  the  Eastern  and  Western  churches.  Prog- 
ress continued  in  Italy  and  Western  Europe,  keeping 
pace  with  the  growth  of  ceremonialism,  the  multipli- 
cation of  festivals  and  the  organization  of  the  canonical 
year.  The  music  of  the  Italian  church  became  a  litur- 
gic music ;  its  methods  were  derived  directly  or  indi- 
rectly from  Eastern  practice.  Syrian  as  well  as  Greek 
influences  must  be  reckoned,  the  spread  of  the  Moslem 
power  having  driven  many  Syrian  monks  into  Italy.  A 
noted  example  of  the  transference  of  Oriental  practice 
to  the  church  in  Italy  is  the  establishment  of  antiphonal 
singing  at  Milan  by  St.  Ambrose,  bishop  of  that  city, 
about  386,  as  described  by  St.  Augustine  in  the  Con- 
fessions, bk.  ix.  A  musical  system  rival  to  that  of 
Rome  and  called  the  Ambrosian  sprang  up  at  this  time, 
but  its  peculiar  nature  is  not  certainly  known.  The 
ascription  to  St.  Ambrose  of  the  four  "  authentic " 

2 


18      THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


scales,  the  basis  of  the  mediaeval  system,  is  not  correct. 
Antiphonal  psalmody  after  the  Milan  pattern  was  intro- 
duced into  Rome  by  Pope  Celestine  I.,  422-432.  The 
history  of  the  papal  choir  goes  back  to  the  fifth  century. 
The  first  singing  schools  were  founded  in  this  period.  By 
the  close  of  the  sixth  century  the  Roman  liturgy  had 
become  essentially  completed,  and  had  been  given  a 
musical  setting  in  the  form  of  a  system  of  unison  chants, 
and  this  system  had  been  made  a  law  of  the  church 
equally  with  the  liturgy  itself. 

The  available  information  concerning  this  period  relates  to 
musical  usages  and  not  at  all  to  musical  examples.  The  general 
character  of  the  church  chant  is  known  from  its  virtual  identity 
with  that  of  the  subsequent  period.  (See  chap,  v.)  Dickinson, 
Music  in  the  History  of  the  Western  Church. 


IV 


THE  CATHOLIC  LITURGY 

An  acquaintance  with  the  liturgy  of  the  Catholic 
church  should  precede  the  study  of  Catholic  music. 
This  liturgy  as  it  exists  to-day  was  essentially  com- 
pleted by  the  year  600. 

The  central  place  in  the  whole  Catholic  system  of 
worship  is  held  by  the  Mass,  the  most  solemn  and  au- 
gust of  the  rites  of  the  church,  the  chief  sacrament 
which  in  its  constant  renewal  is  the  means  by  which 
the  channel  of  grace  is  kept  open  between  God  and  his 
church.  There  are  several  kinds  of  Masses,  varying 
according  to  the  occasions  to  which  they  are  appropri- 
ated and  the  manner  of  performance,  such  as  the  High 
Mass,  Solemn  High  Mass,  Low  Mass,  Requiem  Mass, 
Nuptial  Mass,  etc.  The  High  Mass,  in  which  every- 
thing is  chanted  and  sung  by  the  celebrant  and  choir, 
may  be  taken  as  a  type  of  the  whole.  The  Requiem 
Mass  is  the  only  one  which  departs  from  the  type  in 
any  marked  degree  so  far  as  the  text  is  concerned. 

The  office  of  the  Mass  is  a  perpetual  mystical  renewal 
of  the  atonement  upon  Calvary,  and  not,  like  the  Protes- 
tant Communion,  a  mere  memorial  of  that  event.  To 
the  Protestant  Christ  was  offered  once  for  all  upon  the 
cross ;  to  the  Catholic  this  sacrifice  is  mysteriously  re- 
peated whenever  the  eucharistic  elements  are  presented 


20      THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


at  the  altar.  To  those  who  administer  the  rite  and  those 
who  participate  in  it  through  faith  it  is  a  sacrament  of 
praise,  supplication  and  propitiation.  The  Mass  is  not 
simply  a  prayer,  but  also  a  semi-dramatic  action,  having 
in  itself  an  objective  efficacy.  "  The  sacrifice  of  the 
Mass  is  the  consecration  of  the  bread  and  wine  into  the 
body  and  blood  of  Christ,  and  the  oblation  of  the  body 
and  blood  to  God,  by  the  ministry  of  the  priest,  for  a 
perpetual  memorial  of  Christ's  sacrifice  on  the  cross. 
The  only  difference  consists  in  the  manner  of  the  ob- 
lation. Christ  was  offered  up  on  the  cross  in  a  bloody 
manner,  and  in  the  Mass  he  is  offered  up  in  an  unbloody 
manner.  On  the  cross  he  purchased  our  ransom,  and  in 
the  eucharistic  sacrifice  the  price  of  that  ransom  is  ap- 
plied to  our  souls  "  (Cardinal  Gibbons,  The  Faith  of  our 
Fathers,  p.  355). 

The  order  of  the  Mass  is  contained  in  the  Missal,  English 
translations  of  which  have  been  published  for  the  benefit  of  the 
laity.  The  offices  of  the  seven  canonical  hours  are  contained  in  the 
Breviary  ;  English  translation  by  the  Marquis  of  Bute.  There 
are  separate  books  containing  the  order  for  Vespers.  For  the 
history,  analysis  and  symbolic  significance  of  the  Mass:  O'Brien, 
History  of  the  Mass,  a  full  and  authoritative  work.  The  mood  of 
mystical  enthusiasm  which  the  Catholic  ritual  inspires  in  the 
mind  of  the  Catholic  devotee  is  well  shown  in  Oakeley's  Order  and 
Ceremonial  of  the  Most  Holy  and  Adorable  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass. 
There  is  an  illuminating  article  in  the  Catholic  World,  vol.  iv, 
The  Catholic  Ceremonial.  The  meaning  of  the  Mass  is  also  ex- 
plained for  non-Catholics  by  Cardinal  Gibbons,  The  Faith  of  our 
Fathers.  See  also  Dickinson,  Music  in  the  History  of  the  Western 
Church.  A  book  of  great  interest,  now  unfortunately  out  of 
print  and  rare,  is  Cardinal  Wiseman's  Lectures  on  the  Offices  and 
Ceremonies  of  Holy  Week,  as  performed  in  the  Papal  Chapels. 

See  also  Alzog,  Universal  Church  History;  Addis  and  Arnold's 
Catholic  Dictionary,  a  storehouse  of  information  on  all  liturgical 


THE  CATHOLIC  LITURGY  21 

subjects;  Schalf,  History  of  the  Christian  Church,  vol.  i;  McClin- 
tock  and  Strong's  Cyclopedia,  articles  Liturgies,  Mass,  Breviary, 
Hours. 

The  Requiem  Mass,  or  Mass  for  the  Dead,  omits  the  Gloria  and 
Credo,  and  substitutes  the  Sequence  Dies  Irae.  The  Dies  Irae,  the 
greatest  of  the  mediaeval  Latin  hymns,  has  been  many  times  trans- 
lated, but  an  adequate  metrical  rendering  into  English  is  impos- 
sible. The  Latin  text  may  be  found  in  the  Missal.  There  are 
interesting  notes  upon  it  in  March's  Latin  Hymns  with  English 
Notes. 

The  student  must  guard  against  the  error  of  con- 
founding the  word  "  mass,"  as  applied  to  a  certain  form 
of  musical  composition,  with  the  eucharistic  office.  As 
a  musical  composition  by  any  particular  composer,  as 
for  instance  Beethoven's  "  Mass  in  D  "  or  Gounod's 
"  St.  Cecilia  Mass,"  a  mass  is  simply  a  part  of  the 
larger  office  of  worship  called  by  the  same  name,  and 
consists  of  the  Kyrie,  Gloria,  Credo,  Sanctus,  Bene- 
dictus,  and  Agnus  Dei  —  that  is,  the  portions  that  are 
sung  by  the  choir  and  that  do  not  change  from  day  to 
day. 

For  the  history  of  the  mass  (musical  composition)  see  Dickinson, 
Music  in  the  History  of  the  Western  Church,  chaps,  v.  and  vi. 

The  Requiem,  as  a  form  of  musical  composition,  for 
example  Verdi's  "  Manzoni  Requiem,"  consists  of  the 
Introit,  Kyrie,  Gradual,  Tract,  Dies  Irae,  Offertory, 
Sanctus  and  Benedictus,  Agnus  Dei  and  Communion. 
To  these  is  sometimes  added  the  Responsorium,  Libera 
me. 


V 


THE  CATHOLIC  LITURGIC  CHANT 

The  entire  ritual  of  the  Catholic  church  was  origi- 
nally rendered  in  a  peculiar  form  of  musical  utterance 
known  as  Plain  Song,  Gregorian  Chant,  or  Choral. 
And  although  many  portions  are  now  usually  sung  by 
the  choir  in  settings  by  modern  composers,  the  words 
pronounced  by  the  priest  at  the  altar,  and  certain  por- 
tions assigned  to  the  choir,  such  as  the  psalms  and 
responses,  are  intoned  or  chanted  in  the  ancient  melodies. 
The  liturgic  chant  is  therefore  as  ancient,  as  universal 
and  as  invariable  as  the  liturgy  itself.  It  is  the  only  form 
of  music  that  has  been  officially  recognized  by  the 
church.  In  most  of  the  portions  of  the  liturgy  that  are 
assigned  to  the  choir  modern  musical  settings  are  per- 
mitted. There  is  nothing,  however,  to  prevent  the 
performance  of  the  entire  ritual  in  the  ancient  chant; 
in  fact  there  are  churches  and  convents  that  use  no 
other  form  of  music  throughout  the  entire  office,  what- 
ever the  occasion. 

The  Catholic  chants  may  be  divided  into  two  classes, 
the  syllabic  and  the  florid.  The  general  use  of  modern 
music  in  the  Mass  has  had  the  effect  of  keeping  the 
more  elaborate  and  beautiful  of  the  vast  number  of 
Catholic  chants  away  from  the  knowledge  of  the  musical 
world  at  large.    The  real  wealth  of  Gregorian  melody  is 


THE  CATHOLIC  LITURGIC  CHANT 


23 


known  only  to  one  who  attends  churches  in  which  it  is 
used  throughout  the  service,  or  who  studies  the  Gradual 
and  Antiphonary  (chant  books  supplementary  to  the 
Missal  and  the  Breviary)  and  harmonized  selections 
from  Gregorian  masses,  hymns,  etc.,  which  have  been  put 
forth  by  publishers  of  old  Catholic  music. 

Chief  among  the  simple  chants  are  the  "  Gregorian 
tones,"  —  eight  melodies,  most  of  them  with  variable 
endings,  which  are  appointed  to  be  used  in  the  singing 
of  the  psalms. 

The  ritual  chant  has  its  special  laws  of  execution  ; 
countless  treatises  have  been  written  upon  the  subject 
and  large  attention  is  given  in  the  seminaries  to  the 
purest  manner  of  delivery.  These  laws  govern  pronun- 
ciation, vocalism,  rhythm  and  all  the  special  elements  of 
expression,  such  as  crescendo  and  diminuendo,  changes 
of  quality  of  voice,  etc.,  taking  into  account  conditions 
of  time  and  place. 

The  student  of  this  subject  must  clearly  distinguish 
the  idea  of  the  chant  from  that  of  other  forms  of 
melody,  the  length  and  rate  of  movement  of  the  notes 
being  controlled  by  the  laws  of  text  emphasis  and 
rhythm,  and  not  by  any  time  value  inherent  in  the  notes 
themselves.  The  chant,  therefore,  conforms  to  the  law 
of  subordination  of  music  to  text  rhythm  which  charac- 
terized ancient  music,  and  the  Catholic  chant  is  actually 
the  projection  of  the  musical  principle  of  antiquity  over 
into  modern  times. 

The  remarkable  multiplication  of  technical,  historic  and  ex- 
pository treatises  upon  the  Catholic  chant  is  due  to  its  liturgic 
and  historic  importance.    For  the  forms  of  the  chaut,  methods 


24      THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


of  rendering,  etc.  :  Haberl,  Magister  Choralis  (especially  recom- 
mended) ;  Helmore,  Plain  Song  (Novello's  Music  Primers)  ; 
Helmore,  Psalter  and  Canticles  Noted ;  Helmore,  Hymnal  Noted. 
See  also  Grove's  Dictionary,  articles  Plain  Song,  Gregorian  Tones 
(Appendix,  vol.  iii).  An  important  book  is  The  Roman 
Hymnal,  a  manual  of  English  and  Latin  hymns  and  Latin  chants, 
compiled  by  J.  B.  Young,  published  by  Pustet  &  Co.,  New  York. 
There  are  two  editions,  one  with  accompaniments,  the  other  with- 
out ;  both  are  needed  by  the  student.  There  are  cheap  editions  of 
the  Gradual  and  Antiphonary  in  the  mediaeval  notation.  Editions 
of  the  melodies  appointed  for  the  Mass  and  Vespers,  with  organ 
accompaniments,  are  published  by  Pustet  &  Co.,  New  York. 
For  the  history  of  the  uses  and  development  of  the  ritual  chant 
in  the  first  millennium  of  the  Catholic  church,  and  for  its  religious 
and  aesthetic  ideal  and  impression:  the  histories  of  music  ;  Dick- 
inson, Music  in  the  History  of  the  Western  Church  ;  Catholic  World, 
vol.  xxi,  The  Roman  Ritual  and  its  Chant ;  Catholic  World,  vol. 
xxviii,  Plain  Chant  in  its  Relation  to  the  Liturgy. 

One  of  the  most  interesting,  and  also  one  of  the  most 
puzzling  questions  in  the  history  of  music  is  that  of  the 
origin  and  primitive  form  of  the  Roman  system  of  Plain 
Song.  A  tradition  that  has  been  accepted  as  historic  fact 
for  a  thousand  years  derives  the  title  "  Gregorian  "  from 
Gregory  I.  (pope  590-604).  John  the  Deacon,  who  wrote 
a  biography  of  Gregory  about  872,  is  chiefly  responsible 
for  the  statement  that  this  pope  revised,  selected,  com- 
posed and  noted  a  great  number  of  chant  melodies  which 
became  the  authorized  model  for  the  whole  Western 
church,  and  that  he  also  added  four  new  scales  —  the 
plagal  —  to  the  four  ascribed  (also  by  tradition)  to  St. 
Ambrose,  bishop  of  Milan,  in  the  fourth  century. 
These  assertions,  which  have  been  universally  accepted 
and  are  still  given  a  prominent  place  in  most  of  the 
histories  of  music,  at  last  came  under  suspicion,  and 


THE  CATHOLIC  LITURGIC  CHANT 


25 


Gevaert,  director  of  the  Brussels  Conservatory  of  Music, 
has  given  them  what  now  appears  a  mortal  blow. 
Gevaert's  conclusion  is  that  "  the  tradition  that  makes 
St.  Gregory  the  legislator  of  the  liturgic  chant,  and  the 
compiler  of  the  melodies  of  the  Antiphonary,  has  no 
historic  basis.  .  .  .  The  Christian  chant  took  its  modal 
scales  to  the  number  of  four,  and  its  melodic  themes 
from  the  musical  practice  of  the  Roman  empire,  and 
particularly  from  the  song  given  to  the  accompaniment 
of  the  kithara,  the  special  style  of  music  cultivated  in 
private  life.  The  most  ancient  monuments  of  the  liturgic 
chant  go  back  to  the  boundary  of  the  fourth  and  fifth 
centuries,  when  the  forms  of  worship  began  to  be 
arrested  in  their  present  shape.  .  .  .  The  composition 
and  compilation  of  the  liturgic  songs,  which  was  tra- 
ditionally ascribed  to  St.  Gregory  I.,  is  in  truth  a  work 
of  the  Hellenic  popes  at  the  end  of  the  seventh  and 
beginning  of  the  eighth  centuries." 

Gevaert  first  announced  his  conclusions  in  a  public  discourse, 
which  was  published  in  1890  under  the  title  of  Les  Origines  du 
Chant  liturgique  de  VEglise  latine.  This  essay  was  afterwards 
amplified  into  a  volume  entitled  La  Melopee  antique  dans  le  Chant 
de  VEglise  latine.  This  latter  work  now  stands  as  the  highest 
authority  on  the  early  history  of  the  Catholic  chant,  and  has 
performed  the  service  of  filling  the  gap  which  formerly  existed 
between  ancient  and  modern  music  history.  See  also  The  Oxford 
History  of  Music,  vol.  i,  pp.  26  ff. 

The  Christian  chants  were,  however,  no  mere  repro- 
duction of  profane  melodies.  The  ground-work  of  the 
chant  is  allied  to  the  Greco-Roman  melody,  but  the 
Christian  song  is  of  a  much  richer  melodic  movement. 
The  pagan  melody  was  sung  to  an  instrument,  the 


26      THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


Christian  was  unaccompanied,  and  was  therefore  free  to 
develop  a  special  rhythmic  and  melodic  character,  uncon- 
ditioned by  any  laws  except  those  involved  in  pure 
vocal  expression. 

In  spite  of  the  researches  of  Gevaert,  confirmed  as  they  are  by 
the  general  principles  that  hold  in  all  forms  of  art  development,  it 
must  be  remembered  that  most  of  the  details  of  this  transition  from 
antique  to  mediaeval  music  must  be  left  to  conjecture.  The  lack  of 
living  examples  of  Greek  and  Roman  music,  the  vagueness  of  the 
antique  records,  and  the  impossibility  of  establishing  the  exact 
original  forms  of  the  Catholic  chants,  owing  to  the  inadequacy  of 
the  mediaeval  system  of  notation,  will  always  forbid  any  exact 
kuowledge  of  this  period. 

The  system  of  eight,  afterwards  ten  modal  scales  — 
the  so-called  "  Gregorian  "  or  church  modes,  which  were 
the  foundation  of  the  whole  mediaeval  music  down  to 
about  the  year  1600,  with  their  relations  of  "  authentic  " 
and  "  plagal,"  their  finals  and  dominants,  etc.,  —  must  be 
thoroughly  comprehended  at  this  point.  They  are  repre- 
sented and  explained  in  all  the  histories. 

See  also  Grove's  Dictionary,  article  Modes;  Helmholtz,  On  the 
Sensations  of  Tone;  Pole,  The  Philosophy  of  Music  (more  concise 
than  Helmholtz)  ;  Stainer  and  Barrett's  Dictionary  of  Musical 
Terms,  article  Plain  Song  ;  Parry,  The  Evolution  of  the  Art  of  Music, 
chap.  2  ;  Riemann,  Catechism  of  Musical  History,  part  i. 

The  slowness  of  musical  progress  for  the  first  thou- 
sand years  or  more  of  the  Christian  era,  and  the  impossi- 
bility of  identifying  the  precise  original  forms  of  the 
chant  melodies,  are  due  to  the  rude  and  indefinite  system 
of  notation  in  use  during  that  period.  Our  modern  system 
of  notes  dates  from  the  neumse  —  arbitrary  points,  dashes, 
hooks,  etc.,  somewhat  suggesting  stenographic  signs.  In 


THE  CATHOLIC  L1TURGIC  CHANT  27 


the  absence  of  a  line  or  staff  system  the  neumse  could 
not  indicate  pitch ;  they  suggested  merely  the  rising  and 
falling  of  the  voice,  and  were  only  intended  as  helps 
to  the  memory.  The  history  of  modern  notation  is  the 
development  of  notes,  both  solid  and  open  headed,  out  of 
the  neumae,  with  the  establishment  of  staffs,  clefs, 
measure  signs,  etc.  Several  centuries  were  occupied  in 
this  process. 

The  subject  of  mediaeval  notation  is  very  perplexing,  and  most 
of  the  histories  are  unsatisfactory  in  their  treatment  of  it,  owing 
chiefly  to  the  fact  that  experiments  and  methods  differed  in  dif- 
ferent places,  and  progress  was  not  uniform.  For  thorough  eluci- 
dation of  the  subject  see  the  Oxford  History  of  Music,  vol.  i; 
Riemann,  Catechism  of  Musical  History,  part  i.  For  more  compact 
statement:  Grove's  Dictionary,  article  Notation;  Williams,  The  Story 
of  Notation;  Helmore,  Plain  Song  (Novello's  Music  Primers). 
Beautiful  facsimiles  of  mediaeval  manuscripts,  illustrating  the  his- 
tory of  notation,  are  published  by  the  Plain  Song  Society  of 
London. 

The  history  of  Plain  Song,  during  the  period  of  its 
exclusive  use  in  the  church  down  to  about  the  eleventh 
century,  is  bound  up  with  the  proselyting  labors  of  the 
Roman  missionaries  in  Northern  and  Western  Europe, 
and  the  generally  successful  efforts  of  the  Roman  see  to 
produce  uniformity  in  the  liturgy  and  its  musical  render- 
ing according  to  the  Roman  model. 

The  centres  of  the  culture  of  church  music  were  the 
convents.  Chief  of  these  music  schools  in  the  eighth, 
ninth  and  tenth  centuries  was  the  monastery  of  St. 
Gall  in  Switzerland.  Here  probably  arose  the  Sequence 
or  Prose,  which  began  in  a  setting  of  words  to  the  long 
vocal  flourishes  on  the  last  vowel  of  the  Alleluia,  between 


28      THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


the  Epistle  and  the  Gospel  in  the  office  of  the  Mass. 
This  idea  is  ascribed  to  Notker  Balbulus,  ninth  century. 
Out  of  this  practice  grew  hymns,  taking  at  last  a  metrical 
form.  German  as  well  as  Latin  texts  were  employed, 
and  the  Sequence  became  a  sort  of  people's  song.  The 
number  of  Sequences  greatly  multiplied  in  later  centuries, 
and  they  were  used  in  the  Mass  in  all  the  dominions  of 
the  church.  In  the  sixteenth  century  the  number  was 
restricted  by  the  Council  of  Trent  to  five,  viz.  Dies 
Irae,  Stabat  Mater,  Victimae  Paschali,  Veni  Sancte 
Spiritus,  and  Lauda  Sion.  These  hymns  are  of  great 
importance  in  the  history  of  religious  poetry. 

The  histories  of  music;  Riemann,  Catechism  of  Musical  History, 
part  ii;  Grove's  Dictionary,  article  Sequentia;  Dickinson,  Music 
in  the  History  of  the  Western  Church. 


VI 


BEGINNINGS  OF  POLYPHONIC  MUSIC  :  POPULAR 
MUSIC  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 

The  music  of  the  Christian  church  has  passed  through 
three  great  typical  phases,  each  complete  in  itself,  yet 
the  product  of  an  orderly,  never-ceasing  development, 
and  each  directed  and  moulded  by  the  religious  and  social 
ideas  of  the  age  which  produced  it. 

I.  The  liturgic  chant  (Plain  Song),  unharmonized, 
employed  exclusively  in  every  portion  of  the  ritual  down 
to  the  introduction  of  part  singing  in  the  eleventh  and 
twelfth  centuries.  It  is  still  the  only  permitted  form 
of  music  in  certain  portions  of  the  ceremony  of  the 
Catholic  church. 

II.  The  contrapuntal  unaccompanied  chorus,  based  on 
the  Gregorian  key  and  melodic  system,  employed  in  those 
portions  of  the  service  in  which  the  Plain  Song  is  not 
obligatory.  This  phase  of  church  music  occupies  the 
period  from  the  twelfth  to  the  sixteenth  centuries 
inclusive. 

III.  The  form  now  dominant  in  the  church  at  large, 
viz.  mixed  solo  and  chorus  music,  with  free  instrumental 
accompaniment,  obeying  chiefly  the  homophonic  as  dis- 
tinct from  the  polyphonic  method  of  structure,  and  based 
on  the  modern  major  and  minor  transposing  scales. 

The  second  epoch  in  the  history  of  European  church 


30      THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


music  opens  with  the  first  rude  beginnings  of  the 
practice  of  singing  two  or  more  parts  at  the  same  time. 
The  first  steps  in  the  use  of  concurrent  sounds  consisted 
in  adding  one  part  or  more  to  a  Plain  Song  melody. 
The  earliest  departure  from  unison  chanting  of  which 
we  have  definite  record  is  in  a  strange  barbaric  con- 
trivance called  organum  or  diaphony.  A  manuscript  of 
the  eleventh  century  gives  the  first  distinct  account  of  this 
method  of  singing.  There  were  two  forms  of  organum  : 
(1)  the  parts  moved  in  parallel  intervals  of  the 
octave,  fifth  or  fourth ;  the  parts  might  be  two,  three  or 
four;  (2)  a  freer  form,  in  which  the  parts,  two  or 
three  in  number,  did  not  move  throughout  in  absolute 
parallelism,  but  an  oblique  motion,  with  a  resulting 
mixture  of  intervals,  was  permitted  near  the  close  of  the 
line. 

There  has  been  much  discussion  over  the  origin  of  this 
manner  of  singing.  It  was  probably  a  survival  of  an 
ancient  usage,  and  may  have  been  known  to  a  very 
limited  degree  to  the  Greeks.  It  must  be  noted  that 
parallel  empty  fifths  and  fourths  are  not  necessarily 
unpleasant  to  ears  not  habituated  to  modern  harmony. 

The  importance  of  the  first  form  of  organum  in  the 
history  of  music  has  been  exaggerated  by  historians. 
Properly  speaking  it  is  not  harmony  at  all,  but  only  an- 
other kind  of  unison  (see  Parry,  The  Evolution  of  the  Art 
of  3fusic,  chap.  4).  The  second  form  suggests  more 
promising  possibilities.  Examples  dating  from  the  latter 
part  of  the  eleventh  century  contain  passages  in  contrary 
motion,  not  merely  at  the  closes,  as  had  been  permitted 
earlier,  but  in  the  course  of  the  composition.    In  the 


BEGINNINGS  OF  POLYPHONIC  MUSIC  31 


primitive  strict  organum  only  the  intervals  recognized  as 
concords,  viz.  fifths  and  fourths,  were  allowed  in  connec- 
tion with  unisons  and  octaves.  The  freer  form  admitted 
transient  thirds  and  sixths,  although  held  as  dissonances. 
The  transition  from  organum  to  discant  consists  in  a  more 
liberal  use  of  contrary  motion,  and  the  rise  of  a  system 
of  time  valuations,  by  which  certain  notes  were  made 
equivalent  to  an  established  number  of  others.  The 
standard  system  for  a  time  was  that  of  one  unit  to  three  ; 
that  is,  a  long  note  was  equal  to  three  equal  notes  or 
two  unequal  of  the  shorter  species.  The  prevailing 
intervals  in  the  twelfth-century  discant  were  still 
fifths,  fourths,  unisons  and  octaves,  but  the  so-called 
dissonances  became  more  and  more  frequent.  Parallel, 
oblique  and  contrary  motion  was  employed  in  the  same 
composition,  but  the  value  and  interest  of  contrary 
motion  was  more  and  more  recognized.  In  contrary 
motion,  in  the  mixture,  however  unsystematic,  of  discord 
with  concord,  and  in  the  perception  of  some  definite 
relation  of  time  values,  all  the  possibilities  of  the  art  of 
polyphony  were  faintly  foreshadowed. 

The  basis  of  music  in  this  period,  therefore,  was 
chant  melody,  accompanied  by  a  discanting  part.  In 
the  twelfth  century  we  find  a  third  part,  and  afterwards 
a  fourth.  The  theoretical  superiority  of  fifths  and 
fourths  to  all  other  intervals  for  a  time  hampered  con- 
trapuntal development.  There  was  no  thought  of  a 
free  invention  of  the  cantus  firmus  ;  at  first  the  chief 
melody  was  borrowed  from  the  chant  books ;  soon  secu- 
lar songs  were  drafted  into  use.  In  some  of  the  early 
experiments  the  discanting  part  was  also  borrowed,  the 


32      THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


words,  which  were  often  secular,  being  likewise  re- 
tained. This  even  happened  in  three-part  discant,  with, 
of  course,  modification  of  the  added  tunes. 

A  step  of  great  importance  was  that  of  bringing  parts 
in  one  after  another,  instead  of  always  together.  Still 
more  momentous,  as  the  history  of  music  down  to  our 
own  time  shows,  was  the  invention  of  the  device  of 
making  one  part  follow  another  by  similar  intervals  — 
the  method  known  as  "  imitation,"  upon  which  the  arts 
of  fugue  and  canon  and  the  free  employment  of  coun- 
terpoint rest.  The  word  counterpoint  (punctus  contra 
punctilio,  point  against  point)  eventually  took  the  place 
of  discant. 

The  progress  of  musical  combination  was  doubtless 
promoted  by  the  practice  on  the  part  of  the  singers  of 
extemporizing  the  discanting  parts.  How  general  this 
liberty  was,  or  how  long  it  continued,  is  not  certainly 
known.  It  brought  in  many  abuses,  and  theorists  and 
prelates  often  fulminated  against  it ;  but  it  acted  in  the 
interest  of  experiment  and  advancement,  and  doubtless 
counteracted  the  obstructive  tendencies  of  theory  by  en- 
forcing the  rights  of  the  ear.  It  is  certain,  too,  that 
chromatic  alteration  of  notes,  not  indicated  in  the  score, 
was  permitted  in  practice. 

The  basis  of  the  tonal  art  of  the  Middle  Ages  was 
therefore  counterpoint,  not  harmony.  The  modern  con- 
ception of  a  chord  and  progression  of  chords  did  not 
enter  the  mind  of  the  mediaeval  theorist.  The  homo- 
phonic  principle  of  musical  structure  properly  dates 
only  from  the  seventeenth  century,  although  foreshad- 
owed in  the  sixteenth.    (See  chap,  xi.) 


BEGINNINGS  OF  POLYPHONIC  MUSIC  33 


The  text  books  and  dictionaries  give  definitions  of  counterpoint, 
polyphony,  harmony  and  homophony.  These  distinctions  must  be 
thoroughly  grasped  at  this  point. 

The  history  of  music  from  the  eleventh  to  the  four- 
teenth centuries  inclusive  is  that  of  the  slow  mastery  of 
the  art  of  pure  vocal  counterpoint.  Beginning  with  the 
two-part  discant,  we  trace  the  discovery  and  application 
of  the  various  methods  of  interweaving  melodic  parts  so 
as  to  produce  a  smooth,  coherent,  musical  tissue.  A 
melody  borrowed  from  the  Plain  Song,  or  from  a  secular 
song,  and  called  cantus  firmus,  forms  the  leading  part, 
to  which  counterpoints  are  added.  The  historic  process 
consisted  in  gradually  increasing  the  number  of  parts, 
eliminating  consecutive  octaves,  fifths  and  fourths,  mas- 
tering the  different  species  from  "  note  against  note  " 
counterpoint  to  "  florid,"  the  varieties  of  double,  triple 
and  quadruple  counterpoint,  and  counterpoints  in  con- 
trary motion,  augmentation,  diminution  and  retrogres- 
sion. The  necessities  of  figural  music  also  required 
more  exact  methods  of  notation. 

A  very  different  form  called  faux-bourdon  (false  bass) 
was  known  as  early  as  the  fourteenth  century.  Against 
every  note  of  the  cantus  firmus  it  placed  two  others,  the 
intervals  being  thirds  and  sixths.  Adaptations  of  the 
principle  of  the  faux-bourdon  appear  in  the  works  of 
the  subsequent  period,  often  with  beautiful  effect. 

The  term  contrapunctus  took  the  place  of  discantus  in 
the  thirteenth  century.  Four-part  writing  was  at- 
tempted as  early  as  the  first  half  of  the  twelfth  century 
at  Paris.  Imitations  were  in  use  in  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury ;  double   counterpoint   in   the   thirteenth.  The 

3 


34     THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


oldest  theoretical  treatises  upon  counterpoint  date  from 
the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries.  Progress  in  this 
art  was  not  equally  rapid  in  all  places.  Communication 
between  the  church  centres  was  still  very  irregular. 

In  tracing  the  development  of  polyphony  we  are  led 
first  to  Paris,  where  a  school  of  theorists  and  practical 
contrapuntists  existed  in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  cen- 
turies, antedating  the  so-called  Netherland  school.  The 
kings  of  the  Capetian  dynasty  were  usually  munifi- 
cent patrons  of  music  and  maintained  establishments 
for  the  practice  of  both  ecclesiastical  and  secular  song. 
The  art  gradually  extended  over  Northern  France, 
Flanders,  the  Low  Countries  and  Germany.  It  was 
taken  to  Rome  in  the  fourteenth  century.  Polyphonic 
chorus  music  is  therefore  the  creation  of  the  same  time 
and  place  as  the  Gothic  architecture. 

An  English  contrapuntal  school  appears  to  have  be- 
come established  at  almost  the  same  time  as  the  Paris- 
ian and  Flemish,  but  to  what  extent  its  progress  was 
independent  of  the  continental  movement  cannot  be 
certainly  known.  The  most  remarkable  example  of 
early  contrapuntal  music  known  to  exist  is  the  four-part 
canon  "  Sumer  is  icumen  in,"  a  "  round  "  constructed 
on  a  popular  song  with  a  two-part  ground  bass.  This 
remarkable  composition  is  clearly  proved  to  belong  to 
the  thirteenth  century. 

Among  the  more  eminent  theorists  of  this  early 
epoch  are  Guido  of  Arezzo  (the  chief  name  in  the  or- 
ganum  period,  the  supposed  inventor  of  "  solmization  " 
and  the  four-lined  staff),  Franco  of  Cologne,  Franco  of 
Paris,  twelfth  century,  Walter  Odington  (English), 


POPULAR  MUSIC  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES  35 


thirteenth  century,  Marchettus  of  Padua,  thirteenth 
century,  Phillippe  de  Vitry,  thirteenth  century,  Jo- 
hannes de  Muris,  fourteenth  century,  Guillaume  de 
Mechault,  fourteenth  century,  John  Dunstable  (Eng- 
lish), early  in  the  fifteenth  century. 

The  study  of  the  early  phases  of  mediaeval  music  is  one  of  peculiar 
difficulty,  and  the  ordinary  student  can  only  accept  certain  general 
conclusions  from  data  that  have  been  unearthed  by  musical  archae- 
ologists. The  obstacles  in  the  way  of  a  coherent  narrative  consist 
in  the  scantiness  of  the  early  musical  examples,  the  bewilderments 
of  a  crude  notation,  gaps  in  the  records  and  chiefly  the  fact  of  the 
lack  of  uniformity  in  method  and  progress  in  different  countries 
and  even  in  neighboring  districts.  The  modern  writers,  even  the 
best,  do  not  always  follow  the  same  lines,  or  emphasize  the  same 
facts,  hence  it  is  hardly  possible  for  the  reader  to  escape  a  dis- 
couraging confusion  in  respect  to  details.  There  is  no  better  sum- 
mary than  Parry's,  in  the  fourth  chapter  of  his  Evolution  of  the  Art 
of  M usic.  There  is  a  very  full  account,  especially  valuable  for  its 
copious  examples  in  modern  notation,  in  the  Oxford  History  of 
Music,  vol.  i.  See  also  Henderson,  How  Music  Developed  ;  Grove's 
Dictionary,  articles  Schools  of  Composition,  Mass,  Motet ;  Pole,  Phi- 
losophy of  Music  ;  Riemann,  Catechism  of  Musical  History  ;  Dickin- 
son, Music  in  the  History  of  the  Western  Church  (a  popular  review 
of  the  subject).  The  round,  "  Sumer  is  icumen  in,"  is  exhaustively 
discussed  in  Grove's  Dictionary,  article  under  that  head. 

The  Secular  Music  of  the  People  merits 
attention  at  this  point,  although  but  little  remains  in 
a  shape  that  can  be  identified.  Its  historic  importance 
chiefly  lies  in  the  maintenance  of  the  practice  of  solo 
melody  with  instrumental  accompaniment,  and  a  free  use 
of  instrumental  music,  while  neither  had  any  share  in  the 
contemporary  music  of  the  church.  More  decided  rhythm 
and  more  regular  form,  simpler  key  relations  and  free 


36      THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


invention  of  melody  were  the  features  of  the  folk  song 
and  dance.  The  idea  of  individual  expression,  however 
rude  and  simple,  was  thus  preserved. 

The  courtly  poetry  and  song  of  the  Middle  Ages,  so 
important  in  the  history  of  literature  and  manners, 
merits  a  passing  notice  in  the  history  of  music.  The 
Troubadours  of  Provence  (eleventh  to  thirteenth  centu- 
ries) and  the  Minnesingers  and  court  epic  poets  of 
Germany  (latter  part  of  the  thirteenth  century),  united 
the  verse  to  a  simple  and  refined  form  of  melody,  accom- 
panied by  a  single  instrument. 

The  Mastersingers  —  guilds  of  artisans  in  the  German 
cities  in  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries  —  culti- 
vated music  and  poetry  by  means  of  quaint  and  pedan- 
tic rules  and  graded  orders  of  merit. 

A  large  variety  of  instruments  was  used  in  the  popu- 
lar practice  of  music  in  the  Middle  Ages.  They  were 
clumsy  and  very  limited  in  efficiency.  The  types  most 
capable  of  development  survive  in  the  perfected  orches- 
tral and  domestic  instruments  of  the  present  day. 

In  spite  of  the  scantiness  of  musical  remains  a  great  deal  of  atten- 
tion has  been  bestowed  upon  this  rather  unproductive  theme.  Its 
importance  is  greater  in  culture  history  than  in  the  history  of  music. 
Naumann  has  a  very  interesting  chapter  upon  it  in  the  first  volume 
of  his  History,  with  illustrations.  See  also  Rowbotham,  History  of 
Music,  vol.  iii ;  Lacroix,  The  Arts  of  the  Middle  Ages,  chapter  on 
music,  illustrated  ;  Engel,  Musical  Instruments  ;  Grove's  Dictionary, 
article  Song;  Riemann,  Catechism  of  Musical  History,  part  i; 
Chappel,  Old  English  Popular  Music ;  Henderson,  How  Music  De- 
veloped, chap.  5;  Elson,  History  of  German  Song ;  Wagner,  text  of 
"  Die  Meistersinger  von  Nurnberg,"  trans,  by  H.  and  F.  Corder. 

The  histories  of  the  early  poetry  of  France  and  Germany  contain 
allusions  to  musical  customs. 


POPULAR  MUSIC  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES  37 


The  folk  song  of  France  comes  more  directly  into  the 
current  of  art  history  through  the  adoption  of  popular 
tunes  by  the  masters  of  the  Netherland  school  as  eanti 
firmi  in  their  masses  and  motets.  This  custom  but 
rarely  obtained  among  the  Italian  church  composers, 
who  used  melodies  taken  from  the  ritual  books  and 
sometimes  original  themes.  Professor  Spitta  (Deut- 
sche Rundschau,  April,  1894)  goes  so  far  as  to  say  that 
the  non-Italian  composers  "  rested  upon  the  foundation 
of  the  folk  song."  "  The  polyphonic  music  developed 
out  of  the  folk  song,  and  was  not  untrue  to  it  in  its  (the 
former's)  highest  development.'"  These  composers  also 
set  to  music  a  vast  number  of  French  chansons  in  con- 
trapuntal style,  as  purely  secular  pieces,  the  result  being 
a  form  of  composition  much  simpler  and  more  definitely 
expressive  than  the  masses  and  motets. 


VII 


THE  AGE  OF  THE  NETHERLANDERS,  1400-1550 

The  period  of  slow  experiment,  of  apprentice  work,  in 
the  development  of  mediaeval  vocal  counterpoint  ended 
about  1400.  The  art  from  that  time  on  was  in  the 
hands  of  men  worthy  to  be  called  masters.  Contra- 
puntal structural  devices,  although  still  cultivated  as  an 
end  in  themselves,  also  became  refined  into  means  of 
expression,  and  musicians  came  in  sight  of  what  must 
always  be  the  supreme  aim  of  stylistic  progress. 

The  completion  of  vocal  counterpoint  on  its  technical 
side  was  achieved  by  musicians  of  Northern  France  and 
the  Low  Countries.  The  Netherlander  became  the 
teachers  of  Europe  and  supplied  almost  all  the  church 
centres  of  their  own  districts,  France,  Italy,  Austria  and 
Spain,  with  composers,  choir  leaders  and  instructors. 

When  complete  knowledge  of  contrapuntal  devices 
had  been  attained  two  tendencies  appeared  in  conflict 
with  each  other.  One  was  in  the  direction  of  complex- 
ity and  difficulty.  Music  became  an  exercise  ground 
for  scholastic  ingenuity.  Counterpoint  single,  double, 
quadruple,  augmented  and  diminished,  direct,  retrograde 
and  inverted,  became  the  joy  of  composers.  The  nota- 
tion became  equally  bewildering.  To  increase  the  so- 
phistication of    musical   science  a  cabalistic  system, 


THE  AGE  OF  THE  NETHERL ANDERS  39 


known  as  "  riddle  canons,"  was  devised  to  indicate  to 
the  initiated  the  manner  of  construction  that  was  ex- 
pected of  him.  Rhythm  was  obscured  and  the  words 
hopelessly  lost  in  the  web  of  crossing  parts.  Composers 
largely  occupied  themselves  with  the  mechanical  side  of 
their  art.  Technical  cleverness  was  the  uppermost  aim, 
rather  than  beauty  or  devotional  expression. 

The  second  tendency  was  toward  simplicity.  It  is  a 
common  error  to  suppose  that  labored  artifice  was  the 
sole  characteristic  of  the  scientific  music  of  this  period. 
A  great  amount  of  music  in  four,  five  and  six  parts  was 
also  produced  in  which  there  was  a  striving  for  devo- 
tional effect,  a  clear  leading  of  the  voices  and  an  adjust- 
ment of  phrases  into  more  condensed  patterns.  The 
"  familiar  style,"  in  which  the  music  moves  note  against 
note,  syllable  against  syllable,  suggesting  modern  chord 
progressions  —  a  style  so  frequent  in  Palestrina  —  ap- 
pears in  a  multitude  of  instances  in  the  works  of  the 
Netherland  masters. 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  mediaeval  chorus 
composers  were  tune  setters,  not  tune  makers.  The 
cantus  firmus  was  borrowed,  either  from  a  liturgic  chant 
or  from  a  popular  song.  The  latter  practice  became 
exceedingly  common.  In  such  cases  the  words  con- 
nected with  the  secular  tune  were  often  introduced  at 
the  beginning  of  a  movement  of  mass  or  motet.  The 
secular  words  often  gave  the  name  to  the  mass,  hence 
the  "  Mass  of  the  Armed  Man,"  the  "  Adieu  my  Love 
Mass,"  etc.  No  irreverence  was  intended  and  to  the 
generality  of  worshippers,  even  the  most  pious,  no  of- 
fence was  given.   This  practice  declined  in  the  sixteenth. 


40      THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 

century  and  disappeared  as  composers  gradually  acquired 
the  habit  of  inventing  themes  for  the  cantus firmus.  The 
grotesque  effect  of  this  usage,  as  well  as  the  prevalence 
of  this  custom  of  introducing  secular  words,  has  been 
exaggerated  by  historians. 

About  three  hundred  and  seventy  prominent  Nether- 
land  composers  of  this  period  have  been  enumerated. 
Among  the  most  eminent  are  Dufay  (first  half  of  the 
fifteenth  century),  Brinchoys  (same  period),  Okeghem, 
or  Ockenheim  (died  about  1520),  Hobrecht  (1430-1506), 
Josquin  des  Pres  (about  1450-1521),  Pierre  de  la  Rue 
(died  early  in  the  sixteenth  century),  Gombert  (flourished 
middle  of  the  sixteenth  century),  Clemens  non  Papa  (died 
about  1558),  Arcadelt  (about  1514-1559),  Verdelot  (died 
about  1560),  Willaert  (about  1490-1562),  Goudimel, 
teacher  of  Palestrina  (about  1505-1572).  Germans 
eminent  in  this  style,  of  whom  the  most  prominent  were 
Finck,  Hofhaimer  and  Isaak,  flourished  in  this  period. 
Among  the  eminent  theorists  were  Tinctoris,  Gafor  and 
Glarean. 

The  art  of  constructing  musical  labyrinths  ran  to  its 
full  length  with  Okeghem.  The  work  of  such  as  he  was 
necessary  however,  since  a  complete  mastery  of  tech- 
nical material  must  precede  and  condition  expression. 
Josquin  des  Pres  is  the  greatest  name  before  the  culmi- 
nating period  of  Willaert,  Lassus  and  Palestrina.  He 
was  an  adept  in  all  the  lore  of  the  Netherlander,  and 
produced  a  great  deal  of  work  that  is  of  a  bewildering 
intricacy ;  but  he  also  understood  the  value  of  modera- 
tion, and  often  sought  to  make  science  minister  to 
beauty  of  tone  and  expression.    He  surpassed  his  pre- 


THE  AGE  OF  THE  NETHERLANDERS  41 


decessors  in  agreeableness  and  originality  of  melody, 
ease  of  movement  and  clarity  of  harmony. 

Naumann,  History  of  Music,  vol.  i ;  Parry,  The  Evolution  of  the 
Art  of  Music;  Riemann,  Catechism  of  Musical  History  ;  Dickinson, 
Music  in  the  History  of  the  Western  Church  ;  Famous  Composers  and 
their  Works,  series  i,  article  The  Netherland  Masters ;  Grove's  Dic- 
tionary, articles  Schools,  Mass,  Motet;  Langhans,  History  of  Music 
in  Twelve  Lectures;  Henderson,  How  Music  Developed.  For  the 
development  of  notation  :  Williams,  The  Story  of  Notation. 


VIII 


CHORAL  MUSIC  OF  THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY 

The  form  of  church  music  whose  progress  has  been 
outlined  in  the  two  preceding  chapters  reached  its  per- 
fection with  Palestrina  and  the  Roman  school,  Orlandus 
Lassus  in  Munich,  and  the  Venetian  school  founded  by 
Willaert  and  culminating  in  Giovanni  Gabrieli.  The 
period  itself  demands  attention,  for  it  was  the  time  of  the 
fruition  of  Renaissance  art,  of  the  Protestant  Refor- 
mation and  the  Counter-Reformation  in  the  Catholic 
church,  —  all  of  which  movements  influenced  church 
music  through  their  action  upon  the  religious  sentiment 
and  the  ecclesiastical  conception  of  art. 

Although  the  connection  of  sixteenth-century  Catholic  music 
with  the  intellectual  movements  above  mentioned  may  not  be 
obvious  at  first  sight,  this  music  may  justly  be  considered  as  an 
expression  of  that  vein  of  impassioned  devotion  which  remained 
uncorrupted  in  the  heart  of  Catholicism,  and  manifested  itself  in 
the  Catholic  Reaction  and  the  founding  of  the  great  missionary 
and  philanthropic  orders.  Among  the  books  which  possess  a 
sympathetic  insight  into  the  nobler  Catholic  spirit  of  the  time  may 
be  especially  mentioned  Symonds,  The  Catholic  Reaction,  and 
Alzog,  Universal  Church  History  (Catholic).  See  also  Dickinson, 
Music  in  the  History  of  the  Western  Church. 

No  injustice  will  be  done  to  the  other  great  musicians 
of  the  time  if  Palestrina  is  taken  as  the  highest  repre- 
sentative of  the  mediaeval  polyphonic  school.  Although 


CHORAL  MUSIC  OF  THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY  43 


the  student  should  avoid  the  common  error  of  ignoring 
his  numerous  contemporaries  who  produced  works  in  the 
same  style  as  his  and  almost  as  perfect,  yet  there  need  be 
no  doubt  that  Palestrina's  fame  is  deserved,  and  that  he 
completed  the  style  in  respect  to  grace,  sweetness  and 
devotional  exaltation. 

Giovanni  Pierluigi,  called  Palestrina,  from  the 
place  of  his  birth  near  Rome,  was  born  probably  in  1526 
(authority  of  Haberl),  died  1594.  He  spent  almost  the 
whole  of  his  art  life  in  Rome  in  the  service  of  the  popes. 
He  enriched  every  portion  of  the  ritual  with  music,  his 
works  including  ninety-five  masses.  Among  his  compo- 
sitions that  have  attained  the  widest  celebrity  are  the 
"Stabat  Mater"  and  the  "  Improperia."  Among  his 
contemporaries  in  Rome  were  such  men  as  Vittoria, 
Marenzio,  the  Anerios  and  the  Naninis.  Together  they 
compose  "  the  Roman  school  "  or  u  the  Palestrina  school," 
and  all  that  could  be  said  in  description  of  Palestrina's 
style  might  be  applied  to  theirs  without  essential  altera- 
tion. 

The  characteristics  of  Palestrina's  art  can  easily  be 
learned  by  analyzing  a  movement  from  one  of  his  larger 
works.  Three  general  modes  of  treatment  will  be  dis- 
covered :  (1)  the  intricate  texture,  canonic  imitation,  etc., 
of  the  Netherland  work;  (2)  the  "familiar  style  "(stile 
famigliare)  in  which  the  voices  move  together,  usually 
one  note  to  a  syllable,  suggesting  simple  chord  progres- 
sions ;  (3)  a  blending  of  the  two,  the  "  Palestrina  style  " 
par  excellence.  Analysis  will  show  the  student  the  dif- 
ference between  the  key  and  harmonic  systems  of  the 
Palestrina  time  and  the  modern ;  a  lack  of  the  modern 


44      THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


architectonic  principle  of  sections  and  periods ;  the  ab- 
sence of  definite  rhythm  in  the  music  as  a  whole,  since 
the  melodic  constituents  do  not,  as  a  rule,  begin  and  end 
together ;  the  frequent  crossing  of  the  voices ;  the  prev- 
alence of  plain  triads  with  an  occasional  seventh ;  the 
preparation  of  all  dissonances,  —  in  a  word,  a  vagueness 
of  design  and  a  certain  monotony  of  melody  and  har- 
mony. This  music  does  not  lack  dynamic  change  or 
alteration  of  speed,  but  these  contrasts,  which  depend 
upon  the  will  of  the  conductor,  are  moderate  and  subtly 
graded.  There  are  no  modulations,  the  key  remains  the 
same  throughout  the  work.  Within  these  limitations 
the  sixteenth-century  masters  attained  a  purity  of  sound, 
a  grace  of  movement  and  a  calm,  ethereal  quality  of  ex- 
pression which  have  made  their  works  to  many  minds 
the  most  perfect  ideal  of  devotional  music  that  has  ever 
been  achieved. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  the  effect  of  this  form  of 
music  depends  not  entirely  upon  its  artistic  qualities, 
but  largely  upon  its  religious  and  historic  associations. 
It  is  liturgic,  confessional  music ;  it  reveals  its  true 
character  only  when  blended  with  the  ceremonies  of 
Catholic  worship.  The  secondary  purpose  of  the  Cath- 
olic ritual  is  to  produce  a  complete  absorption  of  the 
worshipper's  mind  in  the  contemplation  of  sacred  mys- 
teries. The  cloistral  discipline,  the  intimate  religious 
exercises,  tend  to  create  a  mystical,  rapt  type  of  piety, 
separating  the  soul  of  the  devotee  from  all  secular 
interests  and  reminiscences.  The  mediaeval  a  capella 
music  reflects  this  spirit  and  aids  to  promote  it.  "  Pal- 
estrina's  conception  of  what  the  music  of  the  Roman 


CHORAL  MUSIC  OF  THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY  45 


church  should  be  was  in  perfect  accord  with  the  prin- 
ciple held  by  the  early  church :  that  music  should  form 
an  integral  part  of  the  liturgy  and  add  to  its  impressive- 
ness.  ...  No  sensuous  melodies,  no  dissonant  tension- 
creating  harmonies,  no  abrupt  rhythms  distract  the 
thoughts  and  excite  the  sensibilities.  Chains  of  con- 
sonant chords  growing  out  of  the  combination  of 
smoothly  flowing,  closely  interwoven  parts,  the  con- 
tours of  which  are  all  but  lost  in  the  maze  of  tones,  lull 
the  mind  into  that  state  of  submission  to  indefinite  im- 
pressions which  makes  it  susceptible  to  the  mystic  in- 
fluence of  the  ceremonial,  and  turns  it  away  from 
worldly  things"  (Mees,  Choirs  and  Choral  Music,  p.  61). 

The  student  will  also  observe  the  lack  of  variety  in 
expression.  Comparing  a  mass  by  Palestrina  with  one 
by  Schubert  or  Gounod  he  will  perceive  not  only  a  differ- 
ence of  style  and  form,  but  also  one  of  purpose  and  ideal. 
The  modern  work  strives  to  depict  the  moods  suggested 
by  the  words  according  to  the  general  methods  that  pre- 
vail in  modem  lyric  and  dramatic  music ;  while  the  aim 
of  the  older  music  is  to  render  a  universal  sentiment  of 
devotion  that  is  impersonal  and  general.  Music  here 
conforms  to  the  idea  of  prayer.  There  is  no  thought  of 
definite  portrayal;  the  music  strives  merely  to  deepen 
the  mystical  impression  of  the  ceremony  as  a  whole.  It 
must  not  be  understood  that  there  is  no  characteristic 
expression  in  this  school  of  music ;  it  does  exist,  but  it 
is  restricted  to  comparatively  narrow  bounds.  Setting 
aside  the  difference  of  conception,  the  nature  of  the  me- 
diaeval modal  system  in  itself  precludes  the  modern  vari- 
ety of  expression. 


46      THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


Editions  of  selected  works  of  Palestrina  may  be  obtained  from 
leading  publishers,  for  instance,  Novello,  Ewer  &  Co.  Many  of 
these  print  the  voice  parts  also  in  close  score  for  convenience  in 
reading.  The  "  Missa  Brevis  "  may  be  recommended  for  a  be- 
ginning on  account  of  its  comparative  simplicity.  The  "  Mass  of 
Pope  Marcellus  "  should  be  familiar.  Other  choice  and  available 
masses  are  "  Assumpta  est  Maria,"  "  O  admirabile  Commercium," 
"Iste  Confessor"  and  "  Tu  es  Petrus."  There  is  an  interesting 
edition  of  Palestrina's  "  Stabat  Mater,"  by  Richard  Wagner, 
published  by  Kahnt,  Leipzig.  Many  of  the  motets  may  be  had 
in  the  modern  clefs.  The  "  Musica  Sacra"  (Latin  texts),  one 
volume,  published  by  Peters,  contains  beautiful  selections  from 
Palestrina's  works,  including  the  "  Improperia,"  besides  fine  works 
by  other  masters  of  the  Roman  school. 

For  critical  discussion  of  the  sixteenth-century  Catholic  music : 
Parry,  The  Evolution  of  the  Art  of  Music  (this  analysis  is  technical; 
there  is  no  attempt  to  explain  liturgic  significance)  ;  Mees,  Choirs 
and  Choral  Music ;  Dickinson,  Music  in  the  History  of  the  Western 
Church;  Famous  Composers  and  their  Works,  series  i;  Grove's 
Dictionary,  articles  Mass,  Motet,  Schools  ;  Henderson,  How  Music 
Developed  ;  Thibaut,  Purity  in  Music. 

Palestrina  has  been  enshrined  in  history  as  the  u  saviour 
of  church  music."  But  the  story  upon  which  this  title 
is  based  has  no  historic  validity.  That  the  Council  of 
Trent  (1545-1563)  had  serious  thought  of  abolishing 
figured  music  and  reducing  the  church  song  to  the  orig- 
inal unison  chant,  and  that  it  was  saved  by  Palestrina 
through  the  convincing  beauty  and  spirituality  of  the 
"  Mass  of  Pope  Marcellus,"  has  been  reiterated  by  all 
histories  and  dictionaries  of  music  except  a  few  of  recent 
date.  It  has  been  proved  that  there  is  no  foundation  for 
this  legend. 

Dickinson,  Music  in  the  History  of  the  Western  Church  ;  Catholic 
World,  vol.  xlviii,  The  Palestrina  Myth;  Henderson,  How  Music 
Developed,  chap.  6. 


CHORAL  MUSIC  OF  THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY  47 


Venice  was  the  chief  rival  of  Rome  in  church  music 
in  the  last  half  of  the  sixteenth  century.  In  the  music 
of  the  Venetian  school  we  find  a  more  passionate  and 
varied  tone,  a  greater  sonority,  pomp  and  splendor  of 
movement.  Chromatic  changes  are  more  freely  employed; 
the  contrapuntal  leading  of  parts  tends  to  condense  into 
more  massive  harmonies.  The  organ  adds  its  tone  to 
the  voices,  and  an  independent  organ  solo  style  makes 
its  modest  appearance.  All  this  progress  is  identified 
with  the  church  of  St.  Mark.  The  founder  of  the 
sixteenth-century  Venetian  school  was  Adrian  Willaert 
(about  1490-1562),  a  Netherlander.  The  structure  of 
St.  Mark's  church,  with  its  two  galleries  and  organs 
facing  each  other,  suggested  to  him  the  plan  of  dividing 
his  choir  into  two  bodies,  by  which  new  combinations 
and  effects  were  obtained.  The  tendencies  of  the 
Venetian  school  were  further  established  by  Cyprian 
de  Rore  (1516-1565),  Claudio  Merulo  (1533-1604), 
Andrea  Gabrieli  (about  1510-1586)  and  Giovanni 
Gabrieli  (1557-1612).  The  latter  is  undoubtedly  the 
greatest  of  the  line.  His  organ  works  contain  a  dim 
promise  of  a  new  epoch.    (See  chap,  xii.) 

Dickinson,  Music  in  the  History  of  the  Western  Church  ;  Hender- 
son, How  Music  Developed.  There  is  an  unwarrantable  neglect  of 
the  Venetian  school  in  most  of  the  histories. 

The  traditions  of  the  Roman  school  were  carried  over 
into  the  seventeenth  century  by  a  number  of  excel- 
lent composers,  among  whom  Gregorio  Allegri  (about 
1580-1652)  is  best  known  by  virtue  of  his  celebrated 
"  Miserere,"  formerly  a  noted  feature  of  the  ceremonies  in 
the  Sistine  Chapel  on  Good  Friday. 


48      THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


Mendelssohn's  Letters  from  Italy,  trans,  by  Lady  Wallace; 
Grove's  Dictionary,  article  Allegri.  The  "Miserere"  may  be 
found  in  Musica  Sacra  (Latin  text),  published  by  Peters.  The 
peculiar  effect  of  this  work  was  largely  due  to  embellishments  and 
other  traditional  modes  of  rendering  which  do  not  appear  in  the 
printed  editions. 

The  name  usually  coupled  with  that  of  Palestrina  as 
representing  the  highest  achievement  of  mediseval 
choral  art  is  that  of  Orlandus  Lassus  (original  Flemish, 
Roland  de  Lattre,  Italianized,  Orlando  di  Lasso),  1520- 
1594.  His  chief  field  of  labor  was  Munich.  In  force, 
variety  and  range  of  treatment  he  surpasses  Palestrina  ; 
he  is  inferior  to  his  rival  in  nobility  and  pathos.  His 
motets  hold  a  more  important  place  than  his  masses. 
His  madrigals,  choral  songs  and  other  secular  works  are 
of  especial  significance.  He  made  bold  experiments  with 
chromatics.  He  showed  keen  sympathy  with  the  popular 
elements  that  were  working  strongly  in  the  music  of  his 
time.  Palestrina's  music  is  permeated  with  the  spirit  of 
the  liturgic  chant ;  Lassus'  with  that  of  the  folk  song. 

The  histories  recognize  the  merits  of  Lassus.  There  is  an  ex- 
cellent article  upon  him  by  W.  J.  Henderson  in  Famous  Composers 
and  their  Works,  series  i.  A  few  of  Lassus'  masses,  motets  and 
secular  songs  may  be  had  in  modern  notation. 

One  of  the  most  important  and  praiseworthy  move- 
ments in  the  culture  of  church  music  at  the  present  time 
is  the  revival  of  the  study  of  the  masters  of  the  six- 
teenth century.  A  strong  influence  in  this  direction  is 
exerted  by  the  St.  Cecilia  Society,  founded  by  Dr.  Franz 
Xaver  Witt  at  Regensburg  in  1868.  Flourishing 
branches  of  this  society  exist  in  many  of  the  chief 
church  centres  of  Europe  and  America.    It  is  the  patron 


CHORAL  MUSIC  OF  THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY  49 


of  schools  of  music  ;  it  has  issued  periodicals,  treatises 
and  musical  compositions.  Its  avowed  purpose  is  to 
restore  a  more  perfect  relation  between  music  and  the 
liturgy,  and  to  erect  a  barrier  against  dramatic  and 
virtuoso  tendencies  in  church  music.  It  devotes  atten- 
tion also  to  the  pure  form  and  rendering  of  the  liturgic 
chant.  Work  similar  to  that  of  the  St.  Cecilia  Society 
is  performed  by  the  Schola  Cantor  urn  of  Paris. 

An  event  of  far-reaching  importance  in  the  history  of 
the  music  of  the  Catholic  church  is  the  decree  of  Pope 
Pius  X.,  promulgated  in  1904,  in  which  a  return  to  the 
mediaeval  style  and  the  clerical  conception  of  church 
music  is  commanded,  so  far  as  modern  conditions  permit. 
The  most  important  requirements  are  that  boys  shall 
take  the  place  of  women  in  the  choirs,  that  the  Grego- 
rian chant  shall  be  restored  to  the  highest  place  of  honor 
in  the  liturgic  services,  and  that  the  Palestrina  style 
shall  be  considered  the  standard  towards  which  the 
music  of  the  choir  shall  strive  to  conform.  The  latter 
injunction  aims  at  the  suppression  of  all  music  whose 
style  is  suggestive  of  the  concert  and  the  theatre.  Of 
these  requirements  the  first  is  the  only  one  that  presents 
serious  practical  difficulties.*  The  emphasis  placed  upon 
the  Gregorian  chant  and  the  chaste,  subdued  style  of  the 
Palestrina  epoch  simply  conforms  to  those  traditions 
that  must  always  be  held  valid  in  worship  music. 

*  This  item  has  since  been  modified  in  its  application  to  America. 


4 


IX 


EARLY  GERMAN  PROTESTANT  MUSIC 

The  second  great  school  of  ecclesiastical  music  that 
engages  the  student's  attention  is  that  of  the  reformed 
congregations  of  Germany.  The  study  of  this  subject 
begins  with  the  Lutheran  hymn  tune  or  chorale.  In  the 
development  of  German  Protestant  music  the  religious 
folk  song  holds  a  place  analogous  to  that  of  the  Grego- 
rian chant  in  the  building  up  of  the  music  of  the  medi- 
aeval Catholic  church.  The  first  study  will  be  to  trace 
the  causes  of  the  prominent  place  held  by  congregational 
singing  in  the  German  Protestant  worship,  the  origin 
and  character  of  the  tunes  to  which  hymns  were  set,  and 
the  relation  of  the  choir  anthem  and  organ  playing  to 
the  people's  song. 

The  first  condition  of  obtaining  a  proper  conception 
of  the  essential  nature  of  the  music  of  this  school, 
especially  in  its  early  stage  of  close  dependence  upon 
the  life  of  the  people,  is  to  gain  a  clear  view  of  what 
Protestantism  really  is  and  the  reasons  for  the  particular 
course  that  it  took  in  Germany.  The  reform  movement 
led  by  Luther  owed  its  success  primarily  to  the  inher- 
ent repugnance  of  the  Teutonic  mind  to  an  external 
spiritual  authority.  The  spirit  of  rebellion  had  long 
been  growing ;  it  had  been  stimulated  by  the  influence  of 
the  intellectual  awakening  known  as  the  Renaissance, 


EARLY  GERMAN  PROTESTANT  MUSIC 


51 


and  the  new  learning.  Luther,  while  still  a  loyal  Cath- 
olic, protested  against  certain  arbitrary  assumptions  of 
the  pope.  (Posting  of  the  ninety-five  theses,  1517.)  The 
burning  of  the  pope's  bull  of  excommunication  (1520) 
signalized  Luther's  complete  separation  from  the  Catholic 
church.  At  the  Diet  of  Worms  (1521)  he  implicitly 
declared  the  foundation  principles  of  Protestantism 
when  he  appealed  to  the  Holy  Scriptures,  reason  and 
conscience  as  higher  authorities  than  ecclesiastical  tradi- 
tion, popes  and  councils.  This  principle,  denying  the 
necessity  of  a  mediatorial  priestly  class,  throws  personal 
responsibility  upon  each  individual,  and  asserts  not  only 
his  duties,  but  also  his  rights  and  privileges.  The 
entire  membership  of  the  Christian  body  is  recognized 
as  a  universal  priesthood,  with  direct  access  to  the 
Father  through  the  merits  of  Christ  alone.  This  concep- 
tion restored  to  the  laity  in  consultation  with  the  clergy 
the  determination  in  matters  of  government,  ritual,  etc. 
The  office  of  worship  became  viewed  as  a  spontaneous 
offering  of  the  people,  not  a  function  imposed  upon  them 
and  having  in  itself  a  magical  efficacy. 

In  respect  to  the  office  of  song,  therefore,  the  idea  of 
congregational  singing  as  an  element  in  the  liturgic 
office  was  restored.  Choir  singing  was  retained,  but  it 
was  not  exalted  above  the  congregational  song.  The 
entrance  of  the  people's  music  into  the  central  act  of 
worship  was  hailed  at  the  beginning  as  symbolic  of  the 
democratic  nature  of  the  new  system.  As  an  inevitable 
corollary  from  these  changes  the  language  of  the  people 
took  the  place  of  the  Latin,  although  this  substitution 
was  not  made  complete  in  Luther's  day. 


52      THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


This  privilege  of  an  active  share  in  the  act  of  worship 
once  granted  to  the  people,  the  practice  of  hymn  singing 
revived  with  the  greatest  enthusiasm,  and  contributed 
powerfully  to  the  spread  of  the  reformed  doctrines. 

A  general  knowledge  of  the  causes  and  spirit  of  the  Reformation 
should  precede  the  study  of  Lutheran  church  music.  Among  the 
multitude  of  writings  on  this  subject  there  may  be  mentioned  as 
especially  compact  and  clear:  Fisher,  History  of  the  Reformation; 
Hausser,  The  Period  of  the  Reformation;  Schaff,  History  of  the 
Christian  Church,  vol.  vi;  articles  in  the  Encyclopaedia  Britanica. 
Alzog,  Universal  Church  History,  gives  the  Catholic  view  of  the 
Lutheran  movement. 

Musical  interest  is  first  drawn  to  the  rise  of  German 
Protestant  hymnody  and  the  provision  of  popular  hymn 
tunes  for  liturgic  use.  Luther  was  not  the  founder  of 
German  hymnody ;  the  religious  folk  song  had  existed 
for  centuries.  Wackernagel's  collection  of  old  German 
hymns  contains  one  thousand,  four  hundred  and  forty- 
eight  examples,  written  between  868  and  1518.  They 
exhibit  almost  no  anticipation  of  the  reformed  doctrines. 

With  few  exceptions,  vernacular  hymns  were  not 
permitted  in  the  ceremonies  of  the  Mass.  They  were 
used  in  the  subordinate  services,  on  pilgrimages,  at  dedi- 
cations, social  gatherings,  on  the  march,  etc. 

Dickinson,  Music  in  the  History  of  the  Western  Church ;  Schaff, 
History  of  the  Christian  Church;  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  article 
Hymns;  Winkworth,  Lyra  Germanica  (translations). 

The  originality  of  Luther's  work  for  Protestant  hym- 
nody has  been  exaggerated  by  historians.  It  was  not 
new  forms  but  a  new  spirit  that  he  gave  his  church. 
He  wrote  thirty-six  hymns,  of  which  five  only  are  wholly 


EARLY  GERMAN  PROTESTANT  MUSIC  53 


original.  The  others  are  more  or  less  free  paraphrases 
of  psalms,  and  translations  or  adaptations  of  mediaeval 
Latin  hymns  and  religious  folk  songs. 

Translations  of  Luther's  hymns  are  contained  in  Bacon  and 
Allen's  Hymns  of  Martin  Luther,  set  to  their  original  Melodies,  with 
an  English  Version.  See  also  The  Chorale  Book  for  England,  com- 
piled and  edited  by  Bennett  and  Goldschmidt ;  Lyra  Germanica, 
translations  by  Catherine  Winkworth;  Julian's  Dictionary  of 
Hymnology  (for  technical  and  critical  discussions);  Dickinson, 
Music  in  the  History  of  the  Western  Church. 

Luther's  example  was  followed  by  a  large  number  of 
clergymen  and  poets.  But  the  preparation  of  tunes  was 
a  less  direct  and  simple  process  than  the  composing  of 
hymns.  The  musician  of  the  early  sixteenth  century, 
as  we  have  already  seen,  was  a  tune  setter,  not  a  tune 
maker.  The  old  practice  of  selecting  a  melody  and 
setting  it  in  contrapuntal  style  was  followed  by  the 
founders  of  the  Lutheran  musical  service.  The  ancient 
custom  of  fashioning  religious  songs  out  of  secular 
poems,  as  well  as  transferring  the  melodies,  was  also 
adopted.  The  chorales  were  therefore  derived  from 
three  sources :  (1)  the  melodies  of  the  Catholic  ritual 
chant ;  (2)  the  pre-Reformation  religious  folk  song, 
and  (3)  the  secular  folk  song.  The  cantus  firmus 
was  at  first  given  to  the  tenor,  the  setting  was  contra- 
puntal. Later  the  tune  was  put  into  the  upper  part, 
and  the  harmony  fell  into  plainer  arrangements  of 
chords,  prefiguring  the  modern  harmonic  system. 

The  original  forms  of  the  chorale  tunes  were  less  strict 
than  those  of  the  present  time.  There  was  greater  variety 
of  measure  and  of  note  values,  and  often  several  notes  to 
a  syllable,  as  well  as  greater  buoyancy  of  movement.  A 


54      THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


party  exists  among  German  churchmen  which  advocates 
the  restoration  of  the  primitive  rhythmic  chorale. 

The  German  Protestant  hymn  and  chorale  reached 
their  highest  excellence  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth 
centuries;  production  declined  in  the  eighteenth,  and 
since  then  but  little  of  value  has  been  added. 

For  the  history  of  the  German  chorale :  Naumann,  History  of 
Music,  vol.  i;  Curwen,  Studies  in  Worship  Music,  vol.  ii  (a  book 
of  especial  value)  ;  Dickinson,  Music  in  the  History  of  the  Western 
Church;  Grove's  Dictionary,  article  Song,  p.  619  (illustrations  of  old 
melodic  forms).  An  excellent  collection  of  German  hymns  in 
English  translation,  with  the  most  important  tunes  of  the  German 
church,  is  Bennett  and  Goldschmidt's  Chorale  Book  for  England. 
Many  of  the  finest  German  tunes  are  to  be  found  in  the  recent 
American  hymnals. 

Bacon  and  Allen's  The  Hymns  of  Martin  Luther  contains  the 
tunes  originally  set  to  Luther's  hymns,  but  in  their  modern  form. 

The  time-honored  belief  that  Luther  composed  hymn 
tunes  as  well  as  verses  must  be  rejected.  The  melodies 
to  the  number  of  about  twenty-five  once  ascribed  to  him 
have  been  traced  to  earlier  sources.  A  possible  doubt 
remains  in  the  case  of  the  tune  of  "  Ein'  feste  Burg," 
but  Baumker  shows  that  it  bears  a  strong  resemblance 
to  an  ancient  Gregorian  melody. 

In  the  forms  of  worship  which  Luther  prepared  for 
the  Wittenberg  churches  (Formula  Missae,  1523,  and 
Die  deutsche  Messe,  1526)  he  retained  many  of  the  old 
Latin  offices.  Like  the  founders  of  the  Anglican  church 
he  was  a  purifier,  not  a  destroyer.  In  the  liturgy  of  1526 
the  chorale  holds  a  prominent  place. 

For  the  Lutheran  liturgies:  Schaff,  History  of  the  Christian 
Church, 


EARLY  GERMAN  PR0TESTAN1  MUSIC  55 


The  method  of  construction  of  the  choir  motet  in  the 
Lutheran  church  did  not  differ  from  that  of  the  Catholic 
motet.  The  German  composers  soon  turned  to  the 
chorale  in  search  of  themes  for  the  cantus  firmus.  Besides 
the  more  elaborate  anthems  a  form  of  music  called 
Chorallied  appeared,  in  which  the  entire  chorale  melody 
was  set  in  a  style  of  counterpoint  more  restricted  than  in 
the  motet,  yet  more  elaborate  than  the  harmonized  chorales 
of  the  congregation.  Prominent  among  the  composers 
who  enriched  the  evangelical  service  with  choir  music 
was  Johann  Walther  (1496-1570),  Ludwig  Senfl  (about 
1492-?),  Hans  Leo  Hassler  (1564-1612),  and  Johannes 
Eccard  (1553-1611).  The  two  latter  have  maintained 
high  rank  in  German  religious  music  to  the  present 
day. 

During  the  sixteenth  century  the  unison  chorale  of 
the  people  was  accompanied  contrapuntally  by  the  choir. 
About  1600  the  organ  took  the  place  of  the  choir  in  this 
office,  and  from  that  time  dates  the  development  of  a  new 
school  of  organ  playing,  based  on  the  free  chorale 
variation. 

For  the  organization  of  the  choirs  and  the  schools  for  boys  con- 
nected with  the  churches  see  Mees,  Choirs  and  Choral  Music. 


X 


PROTESTANT  CHURCH  MUSIC  IN  ENGLAND 

The  music  of  the  Anglican  church,  like  that  of  the 
Catholic  and  Lutheran  churches,  is  connected  with  an 
authoritative  liturgy.  Neither  the  ritual  nor  the  music 
of  the  Anglican  church  is  an  independent  creation,  but 
both  are  modifications  of  corresponding  institutions 
existing  in  the  mother  church.  The  study  of  the 
music  of  the  Church  of  England  should  be  preceded  by 
an  acquaintance  with  the  liturgy  and  the  circumstances 
of  its  development. 

The  chief  events  which  mark  the  transformation  of 
England  from  a  Catholic  to  a  Protestant  country  are  the 
breach  between  Henry  VIII.  and  the  papacy  resulting 
in  the  Act  of  Supremacy  of  1534,  which  declared  the 
king  and  his  successors  "protector  and  supreme  head 
on  earth  of  the  church  and  clergy  of  England " ; 
Tyndale's  translation  of  the  Bible  into  English;  the 
accession  of  Edward  VI.,  1547,  and  his  espousal  of  the 
Protestant  cause ;  the  publication  of  the  Book  of  Com- 
mon Prayer,  1549 ;  reaction  under  Mary  the  Catholic, 
1553-1558 ;  the  accession  of  Elizabeth,  1558,  and  the  res- 
toration of  the  Protestant  supremacy  ;  publication  of  the 
Thirty-nine  Articles,  1563.  In  the  separation  of  1534 
no  doctrinal  change  was  involved.  The  purification  and 
restatement  of  doctrine  began  with  the  accession  of 


PROTESTANT  CHURCH  MUSIC  IN  ENGLAND  57 


Edward  VI.,  and  was  not  fully  completed  until  the  final 
revision  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  in  1661.  The 
Anglican  church  was  conceived,  not  as  an  institution 
built  upon  wholly  new  foundations,  but  as  an  inheritor 
of  the  privileges  of  the  ancient  church  and  the  hereditary 
defender  of  the  faith  once  committed  to  the  apostles, 
with  the  declaration  of  an  open  Bible  and  the  emancipa- 
tion of  the  reason. 

Political  conditions  must  be  taken  into  account  in  explaining 
the  origin  and  character  of  the  liturgy  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land. Among  the  more  concise  histories  of  this  period  are  : 
Green,  A  Short  History  of  the  English  People;  Fisher,  History  of 
the  Reformation;  Hausser,  The  Period  of  the  Reformation;  Perry, 
The  Reformation  in  England  (Epochs  of  Church  History)  ;  articles 
in  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica. 

The  conservatism  of  the  founders  of  the  Church  of 
England  is  witnessed  by  the  liturgy,  which  was  largely 
composed  of  materials  furnished  by  the  office  books  of 
the  mother  church.  The  same  fact  is  seen  in  the  promi- 
nence given  to  ceremonies  designed  to  impress  the  senses, 
especially  in  the  usages  of  the  so-called  high  church  or 
ritualistic  party. 

There  is  only  one  office  book  in  use  in  the  Church  of  England, 
viz.  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and  this  should  be  examined 
and  compared  with  the  Catholic  Missal  and  Breviary.  The  Prayer 
Book  of  the  Episcopal  church  of  America  differs  but  slightly  from 
that  of  the  Church  of  England.  The  Prayer  Book  will  be  found 
to  contain  both  constant  and  variable  portions,  with  separate 
offices  for  Communion,  ordering  of  priests,  etc.  Histories  of  the 
Book  of  Common  Prayer  and  commentaries :  Proctor,  History  of 
the  Book  of  Common  Prayer;  Maskell,  The  Ancient  Liturgy  of  the 
Church  of  England;  McClintock  and  Strong's  Cyclopedia,  articles 
Liturgies,  Common  Prayer  ;  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  article  Liturgy. 


58      THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


Jebb,  The  Choral  Service  of  the  United  Church  of  England  and 
Ireland  is  a  valuable  book,  but  out  of  print. 

There  are  three  modes  of  performing  the  service  in 
the  Church  of  England :  (1)  the  choral  or  cathedral 
mode,  in  which  the  delivery  is  musical  throughout, 
except  in  the  lessons  ;  (2)  the  parochial,  without  choir ; 
(3)  the  mixed,  in  which  the  prayers,  creeds,  litany  and 
responses  are  recited  in  speaking  voice.  In  the  full 
choral  service  three  forms  of  song  exist,  —  the  figured 
music  of  the  choir  in  anthem  style  (viz.  anthem  and 
"  service  "  ),  the  accompanied  chanting  of  the  psalms, 
and  the  unaccompanied  intonation  of  the  priest.  The 
hymns  sung  by  the  congregation  are  not  a  part  of  the 
liturgy. 

The  form  of  the  Anglican  chant,  single,  double  and 
sometimes  triple,  is  readily  seen  by  examining  examples, 
and  should  be  compared  with  the  Gregorian  chant. 
The  earliest  Anglican  chant  was  derived  from  the 
Catholic  Plain  Song,  and  was  arranged  by  J ohn  Mar- 
becke,  1550.  A  harmonization  of  Marbecke's  melodies 
appeared  in  1560.  The  present  form  of  the  Anglican 
chant  was  not  established  until  the  seventeenth  century. 
Few  chants  now  used  in  the  Church  of  England  are 
older  than  the  eighteenth  century.  Many  additions 
were  made  in  the  nineteenth  century.  In  the  Restora- 
tion period  and  still  more  in  the  eighteenth  century, 
says  Helmore,  "  double  chants  and  pretty  melodies, 
with  modern  major  and  minor  harmonies,  came  to  be  sub- 
stituted for  the  single  strains,  the  solemn  and  manly 
recitation  tones,  and  the  grand  harmonies  of  the  sixteenth 
century."    There  has  been  a  partial  reaction  in  the 


PROTESTANT  CHURCH  MUSIC  IN  ENGLAND  59 


nineteenth  century  in  favor  of  a  more  dignified  style, 
going  so  far  in  certain  quarters  as  an  attempt  to  restore 
the  Gregorian  Plain  Song.  The  manner  of  adjusting  the 
notes  to  the  words  is  called  "  pointing."  There  is  no 
authoritative  method  of  pointing,  and  there  is  much 
disagreement  upon  the  subject. 

In  the  choral  service,  and  often  in  the  mixed,  the 
psalms  are  chanted  antiphonally  by  a  divided  choir. 

There  is  a  multitude  of  chant  books.  Those  should  be  con- 
sulted which  bear  the  names  of  eminent  cathedral  musicians.  For 
history  and  explanation  :  articles  in  Grove's  Dictionary:  Naumann, 
History  of  Music;  Davey,  History  of  English  Music;  Curwen, 
Studies  in  Worship  Music;  Dickinson,  Music  in  the  History  of  the 
Western  Church;  Helmore,  Plain  Song  (Novello's  Music  Primers). 

Selected  psalms  and  canticles,  technically  known  as 
"  services,"  are  sung  anthem-wise,  and  are  to  be  distin- 
guished from  the  daily  psalms,  which  are  chanted  antiph- 
onally. Since  these  members  of  the  "  service  "  (Te 
Deum,  Jubilate,  etc.)  are  regularly  appointed  for  the 
morning  and  evening  prayer,  they  may  be  said  to  corre- 
spond to  the  choral  unvarying  portions  of  the  Catholic 
Mass. 

Grove's  Dictionary,  article  Service. 

The  words  of  the  anthem  are  not  prescribed,  and  thus 
the  anthem  is  not  strictly  a  part  of  the  liturgy.  The 
selection  of  the  anthem  is  left  to  the  choir  master,  but 
the  tradition  of  the  church  implies  that  the  words  shall 
be  selected  from  the  Scriptures  or  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer.    The  anthem  is  sometimes  omitted  altogether. 

The  anthem  in  its  modern  form  of  mixed  solo  and 
chorus  music  is  an  English  invention,  dating  from  the 


60      THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 

latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  century.  The  modern 
"  full "  anthem  is  the  legitimate  successor  of  the  old 
Catholic  motet.  The  "  verse  "  and  "  solo  "  forms  are  the 
result  of  the  working  of  the  Italian  art  of  solo  singing 
into  the  domain  of  church  music.  The  history  of  the 
English  anthem  is  to  be  traced  from  the  polyphonic  works 
of  such  worthy  rivals  of  Palestrina  and  Lass  us  as  Tallis, 
Tye  and  Gibbons  of  the  Elizabethan  period ;  through  the 
hiatus  during  the  Puritan  domination;  the  restoration 
of  church  music  in  the  completely  changed  forms  of  the 
day  under  Charles  II.  —  a  period  distinguished  by  the 
work  of  the  gifted  Henry  Purcell  (1658-1695) —  the  solid, 
but  dry  and  mechanical  productions  of  the  middle  of  the 
eighteenth  century  to  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth,  and 
the  work  of  the  cathedral  musicians  of  the  last  half- 
century,  in  which  we  find  a  richer  color  and  a  more 
varied  and  appealing  expression  than  ever  before  in  the 
history  of  English  church  music.  To  the  names  of  the 
brilliant  musicians  who  distinguish  this  later  epoch  in 
England,  should  be  added  a  few  American  composers 
who  have  written  in  the  same  style. 

Grove's  Dictionary,  article  Anthem;  Naumann,  History  of  Music ; 
Davey,  History  of  English  Music;  Foster,  Anthems  and  Anthem 
Composers ;  Curwen,  Studies  in  Worship  Music.  The  best  account 
of  English  church  music  in  the  seventeenth  century,  particularly  of 
the  work  of  Purcell,  is  in  vol.  iii  of  the  Oxford  History  of  Music. 

The  publications  of  Novello,  Ewer  &  Co.  cover  every  period  and 
every  form  in  the  history  of  English  church  music. 

Together  with  the  musical  service  of  the  Church  of 
England  the  history  of  the  English  and  American  con- 
gregational song  should  receive  attention.    In  tracing 


PROTESTANT  CHURCH  MUSIC  IN  ENGLAND  6l 


this  line  we  are  led  back  to  the  Puritans  and  their 
psalmody.  Protestant  England  was  early  divided  into 
two  parties,  viz.  the  moderate  reformers  —  the  adherents 
of  the  established  church,  and  the  radicals  —  the  Presby- 
terians, Independents,  etc.  The  latter  assailed  the  Estab- 
lishment as  a  compromise  with  popery,  and  attempted 
to  reduce  worship  to  the  baldest  simplicity,  and  also  to 
set  up  a  more  democratic  form  of  church  government. 
The  contest  broke  out  under  Elizabeth,  increased 
under  James  L,  and  culminated  with  the  overthrow  of 
Charles  I.,  and  the  temporary  ascendancy  of  Puritanism 
under  Cromwell.  Puritanism  was  the  extreme  phase 
of  the  reaction  against  Romanism.  Its  notion  of  wor- 
ship renounced  every  vestige  of  prescribed  form  in  liturgy 
and  ceremony.  Upon  the  triumph  of  Cromwell's  army 
these  principles  were  rigidly  enforced.  Vestments  were 
abolished,  choirs  were  disbanded,  service  books  destroyed, 
and  almost  every  organ  in  England  was  demolished. 

For  the  history,  tenets  and  spirit  of  Puritanism  the  student  is 
referred  to  the  standard  histories,  among  which  Green's  Short  His- 
tory of  the  English  People  may  be  especially  mentioned ;  also 
articles  in  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica. 

The  only  form  of  music  permitted  in  the  Puritan  con- 
gregations was  the  singing  by  the  congregation  of  para- 
phrases of  the  psalms  in  verse  and  rhyme  —  the  so-called 
psalmody.  The  prototype  of  the  Puritan  mode  of  wor- 
ship is  to  be  found  in  the  service  established  by  John 
Calvin  at  Geneva.  He  allowed  no  hymns  except  metri- 
cal versions  of  the  psalms.  The  famous  Geneva  Psalter 
was  prepared  between  1538  and  1552  by  Marot  and  Beza. 
These  French  psalm  versions  were  set  to  unison  melodies 


62      THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


derived  from  older  sources,  largely  secular,  and  were 
afterwards  harmonized. 

One  who  has  access  to  a  copy  of  the  Geneva  Bible  will  find  the 
Marot-Beza  version  with  the  original  melodies.  See  also  Dickin- 
son, Music  in  the  History  of  the  Western  Church  ;  Grove's  Diction- 
ary, article  Bourgeois,  appendix  to  vol.  iv,  for  a  discussion  of  the 
authorship  of  the  Marot-Beza  psalm  melodies,  and  article  Psalter, 
appendix  to  vol.  iv.  Full  account  of  English  psalmody  in  Cur- 
wen,  Studies  in  Worship  Music,  vol.  i.  Davey,  in  his  History  of 
English  Music,  pp.  264-305,  has  emphasized  the  fact  that  the  Puri- 
tans had  no  hostility  to  artistic  secular  music.  In  Hooker's  Laws 
of  Ecclesiastical  Polity,  bk.  v,  may  be  found  this  great  church- 
man's noble  defence  of  church  music. 

The  prohibition  of  "  uninspired "  hymns  in  the  non- 
conformist churches  lasted  until  the  period  of  Isaac 
Watts  and  J ohn  Wesley  early  in  the  eighteenth  century, 
who  may  justly  be  considered  the  fathers  of  the  noble 
hymnody  of  England  and  America.  The  history  of 
the  English  congregational  hymn  tune  begins  with  the 
melodies  used  in  the  early  English  and  Scotch  Psalters, 
and  extends  in  an  unbroken  line  of  production  to  the  tunes 
of  the  recent  school  of  Church  of  England  composers. 

Glass,  The  Story  of  the)  Psalter;  Grove's  Dictionary,  article 
Psalter,  in  appendix  to  vol.  iv;  Curwen,  Studies  in  Worship 
Music;  Dickinson,  Music  in  the  History  of  the  Western  Church, 
chap.  xi. 

For  the  music  of  the  Puritan  churches  in  America  and  their 
successors :  Elson,  History  of  American  Music ;  Bitter,  Music  in 
America;  Brooks,  Olden  Time  Music ;  Earle,  The  Sabbath  in  Puri- 
tan New  England;  Perkins  and  Dwight,  History  of  the  Handel  and 
Haydn  Society ;  prefaces  to  the  Plymouth  Collection,  edited  by 
Henry  Ward  Beecher,  and  the  Plymouth  Hymnal,  edited  by  Lyman 
Abbott. 

The  congregational  music  of  England  and  America  contains 


PROTESTANT  CHURCH  MUSIC  IN  ENGLAND  6S 


melodies  that  are  of  the  highest  order  in  respect  to  artistic  beauty 
and  appropriateness  of  style.  The  hymn  books  are  so  numerous 
and  many  are  so  excellent,  that  distinctions  would  not  be  justified. 
It  is  proper,  however,  to  make  special  mention  of  the  standard 
English  cathedral  collection,  Hymns  Ancient  and  Modern. 


XI 


THE  MADRIGAL  —  THE  OPERA  — MODERN  TONALITY 

While  the  contrapuntal  chorus  —  the  all-absorbing 
style  from  the  period  of  the  discant  to  the  middle  of  the 
sixteenth  century  —  was  attaining  its  perfection  in  the 
age  of  Palestrina  and  Lassus,  a  movement  destined  com- 
pletely to  revolutionize  the  art  was  slowly  gathering 
head.  The  Renaissance  had  transferred  the  other  arts 
to  entirely  new  bases ;  the  portrayal  of  religious  ideas 
and  the  excitement  of  religious  emotion  yielded  to  far 
different  and  more  universal  motives.  Art  showed  the 
power  of  entering  into  the  multifarious  interests  of  man, 
as  a  being  who  finds  joy  in  exercising  all  the  energies 
which  are  called  forth  by  his  relations  to  nature  and  his 
fellow-men.  In  a  word,  art  became  secularized.  Music 
must  follow  the  same  course.  Composers  looked  eagerly 
for  other  channels  of  activity  than  those  afforded  by  the 
service  of  the  church. 

A  form  of  music  was  wanted  that  would  be  suited 
to  the  theatre,  the  social  circle  and  domestic  privacy. 
Music  must  follow  poetry  in  all  her  excursions.  It  must 
be  man's  companion  in  all  the  experiences  of  his  heart. 
The  musical  forms  existing  in  the  sixteenth  century 
could  not  meet  these  demands.  New  forms  and  methods 
of  expression  must  arise.  The  search  for  these  forms  con- 
stitutes the  history  of  music  in  the  seventeenth  century. 


MADRIGAL  —  OPERA  —  MODERN  TONALITY  65 


The  student  should  learn  something  of  the  nature  and  history 
of  the  Renaissance  if  he  would  comprehend  the  motive  of  the  great 
musical  transformation.  Whole  libraries  have  been  written  upon 
that  subject.  There  is  no  better  statement  of  the  meaning  and 
results  of  the  Renaissance  than  the  brilliant  first  chapter  of 
Symond's  Renaissance  in  Italy,  vol.  i,  The  Age  of  the  Despots. 

The  first  secular  form  to  receive  the  serious  attention 
of  the  professional  composers  was  the  madrigal.  As  a 
setting  in  contrapuntal  style  of  a  species  of  poetry  de- 
voted chiefly  to  love  amid  rural  surroundings,  the  musi- 
cal madrigal  may  be  traced  to  the  treatment  of  popular 
poems,  chiefly  French,  by  the  composers  of  the  Nether- 
land  school  (see  chap.  vi).  Note  that  the  madrigal, 
although  secular  in  text,  did  not  at  first  differ  in  musi- 
cal construction  from  the  church  chorus.  Its  natural 
tendency,  however,  was  toward  greater  simplicity,  a 
melody  more  regular  and  thrown  into  clearer  relief,  a 
more  systematic  and  pronounced  rhythm  required  by 
the  metre  of  the  verse,  and  a  more  varied  and  definite 
expression.  Gradually  the  canonic  interweaving  of 
parts  tended  to  coalesce  into  patterns  suggesting  chords, 
as  though  a  blind  groping  were  in  progress  toward  the 
homophonic  principle.  In  striving  for  expression  chro- 
matic changes  began  to  appear,  at  first  haphazard  and 
unsystematic,  but  helping  on  the  movement  which 
issued  in  the  modern  transposing  keys.  Madrigals 
became  extraordinarily  popular,  and  multitudes  were 
written  by  almost  all  the  composers  of  note  in  the  six- 
teenth century.  They  first  appeared  in  the  works  of 
the  Netherland  masters ;  were  taken  up  by  the  Italians 
and  Spaniards,  and  reached  their  greatest  finish  and 
melodious  charm  in  the  hands  of  the  English  composers 

5 


66      THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


of  the  time  of  Elizabeth.  In  the  later  madrigals  of 
Italy,  Spain  and  England  the  contrapuntal  structure 
almost  disappears ;  the  melody  is  in  the  upper  voice,  and 
the  other  parts  act  as  a  support,  suggesting  the  modern 
part  song  of  which  it  is  really  the  parent. 

Grove's  Dictionary,  articles  Madrigal,  Song  (pp.  586-8,  592, 
593)  ;  Naumann,  History  of  Music,  vol.  i ;  Parry,  The  Evolution  of  the 
Art  of  Music;  Barrett,  English  Glee  and  Madrigal  Writers.  Many 
of  the  best  English  madrigals  are  published  in  cheap  octavo  edi- 
tions by  Novello  and  others. 

The  most  striking  result  of  the  secular  movement  in 
music  in  the  sixteenth  century  was  the  invention  of  the 
opera  in  Italy.  A  loose  and  ineffective  alliance  between 
dramatic  poetry  and  music  had  long  existed.  The  ec- 
clesiastical plays  of  the  Middle  Ages  had  been  given  with 
interspersed  chants,  choruses  and  folk  songs.  The  prob- 
lem of  the  union  of  music  and  the  drama  became  more 
and  more  insistent  as  secular  plays,  masquerades  and 
spectacles  gained  increasing  favor  at  the  pleasure-loving 
courts  of  Italy.  As  no  form  of  solo  music  existed 
suited  to  the  continuous  ebb  and  flow  of  dramatic  move- 
ment, the  arrangers  of  stage  entertainments  were  com- 
pelled to  depend  upon  occasional  musical  numbers  in 
chorus  form.  As  soon  as  the  madrigal  flourished  it  was 
drafted  into  the  service,  but  its  dramatic  insufficiency 
was  recognized  even  by  those  who  employed  it. 

Beginning  about  1580  a  circle  of  scholars  and  musical 
amateurs  of  Florence  held  meetings  at  the  house  of  Gio- 
vanni Bardi,  count  of  Vernio,  and  a  prominent  feature  of 
their  discussion  was  the  possibility  of  a  form  of  music 
suitable  for  dramatic  purposes.    They  imagined  that 


MADRIGAL  — OPERA  — MODERN  TONALITY  67 


the  problem  had  been  solved  by  the  ancient  Athenians 
in  their  drama,  which  they  inferred  from  the  ancient 
writings  had  been  declaimed  in  musical  tones,  and  they 
set  themselves  to  discover  a  style  of  singing  that  would 
correspond  to  what  they  believed  to  have  been  the  Athe- 
nian method.  Their  demand  was  for  a  style  of  solo 
music  with  simple,  free  accompaniment  which  would 
permit  the  words  to  be  distinct,  and  would  yield  to  the 
ebb  and  flow  of  rhythm  and  sentiment,  leaving  musical 
effect  wholly  subordinate  to  the  verse.  Their  experi- 
ments resulted  in  the  invention  of  a  kind  of  musical 
utterance  that  was  half  way  between  speech  and  song, 
a  heightening  of  the  inflections  of  ordinary  speech,  rising 
now  and  then  in  more  impassioned  moments  into  irregu- 
lar melodious  cadences,  at  times  even  giving  way  to  a 
burst  of  florid  passages  on  a  single  syllable.  Out  of 
this  intonation  came  recitative  and  air,  which  soon  be- 
gan to  separate  from  one  another,  each  developing  its 
own  special  laws.  The  Florentine  dramatic  song  was 
not  so  dry  and  monotonous  as  the  secco  recitative,  but  it 
was  far  more  recitative  than  melody,  and  may  be  classed 
under  the  head  of  the  former.  It  is  not  incorrect  to  say 
that  in  the  Bardi  circle  somewhere  about  1590  recitative 
was  invented,  and  with  it  the  modern  opera  was  founded. 

The  first  practical  results  were  the  "  monodies  "  of 
Galilei  and  the  Nuove  Musiche  of  Caccini.  The  first 
application  of  the  new  recitative  to  an  entire  play  was 
in  "  Dafne,"  composed  by  Peri  and  Caccini  collaborating, 
with  text  by  Rinuccini,  in  1597.  "  Euridice  "  by  the 
same  poet  was  set  to  music  by  Peri  and  also  by  Caccini 
in  1600.    The  music  of  these  two  compositions  has  sur- 


68      THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 

vived;  that  of  "  Dafne "  has  been  lost.  "II  Ratto  di 
Cefalo  "  by  Caccini  was  produced  in  the  same  year.  A 
religious  allegorical  piece  by  Cavaliere  called  "  Rappre- 
sentazione  di  Anima  e  di  Corpo  "  was  performed  at  Rome 
in  1600.  This  work  has  been  called  the  first  oratorio. 
It  was  given,  like  an  opera,  with  action  and  costume. 
It  comprised  ninety  numbers,  consisting  of  choruses, 
solos  and  recitatives,  with  an  instrumental  prelude.  In 
certain  portions  considerable  success  was  attained  in 
reflecting  the  ideas  of  the  words  in  the  music. 

All  the  histories  of  music  contain  accounts  of  the  rise  of  the 
opera,  although  with  numerous  discrepancies  in  details.  See  also 
Parry,  The  Evolution  of  the  Art  of  Music ;  Famous  Composers  and  their 
W orks,  series  i,  article  Music  in  Italy ;  Apthorp,  The  Opera,  Past  and 
Present ;  Henderson,  Hoiv  Music  Developed  ;  Newman,  Gluck  and  the 
Opera,  part  ii,  chap.  1;  Riemann,  Catechism  of  Musical  History, 
part  ii,  chap.  12  ;  Grove's  Dictionary,  articles  Caccini,  Cavaliere, 
Peri,  Monodia,  Recitative,  Opera.  For  statements  of  the  first  opera 
writers  explaining  their  intentions  :  Apthorp,  The  Opera,  Past  and 
Present,  appendix  i ;  Naumann,  History  of  Music,  vol.  i,  p.  524 ;  Rie- 
mann, Catechism  of  Musical  History,  part  ii,  chap.  12. 

Symonds,  Renaissance  in  Italy  :  Italian  Literature,  vol.  i,  gives  an 
account  of  the  drama  in  Italy,  including  the  pastoral  plays  upon 
which  the  opera  was  grafted. 

There  was  no  intention  on  the  part  of  the  Florentine 
inventors  of  the  stile  rappresentativo  to  create  a  form  of 
art  which  should  appeal  to  the  ear  and  the  sensibility  on 
purely  musical  grounds.  They  did  not  dream  of  the 
subsequent  career  of  the  opera.  They  wished  merely  to 
throw  off  the  trammels  of  counterpoint,  and  allow  the 
single  voice  complete  freedom  of  utterance.  The  cus- 
tom already  existed  of  singing  one  voice  part  in  a  con- 
trapuntal chorus,  the  other  parts  being  played  upon  the 


MADRIGAL  — OPERA -MODERN  TONALITY  69 


organ,  clavier  or  lute.  Madrigals  particularly,  with 
copious  improvised  ornaments,  were  performed  in  this 
way.  "  In  simple  domestic  music-making  they  had  be- 
come accustomed  to  singing  the  soprano  part,  and  per- 
forming the  other  parts  at  need  upon  some  instrument 
capable  of  playing  several  parts.  It  can  only  excite 
astonishment  that  one  hundred  years  were  needed  to 
make  the  obvious  practical  application  of  composing 
immediately  for  one  voice  with  accompaniment;  i.e. 
for  the  accompanying  parts  to  dispense  with  the  regular 
part  progressions,  which  were  not  exactly  suitable  for 
performance.  The  only  explanation  is  that  they  did  not 
yet  understand  harmony  as  consisting  of  chords,  but  only 
as  the  result  of  part- writing."  (Riemann,  Catechism  of 
Musical  History,  part  ii,  chap.  12.) 

The  Florentine  monody  must  therefore  be  studied  not 
simply  as  the  addition  of  music  to  dramatic  poetry,  for 
that  had  been  done  before ;  nor  even  as  an  experiment 
in  singing  one  part  alone,  for  neither  was  that  idea  new ; 
but  rather  as  the  substitution  of  a  free  chord  accompani- 
ment in  place  of  polyphonic  parts.  It  was  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  homophonic  principle  supplementing  the 
contrapuntal,  and  hence  the  dawn  of  a  new  era  in 
the  history  of  music. 

Another  phenomenon  of  the  highest  ultimate  conse- 
quence appears  in  the  transition  period  of  the  sixteenth 
and  seventeenth  centuries  in  the  gradual  substitution  of 
the  modern  tone  system  for  that  of  the  Middle  Ages.  The 
major  and  minor  transposing  scales  succeeded  the  Gre- 
gorian modes.  With  the  enlarging  demands  upon  musi- 
cal expression  the  modal  system  was  felt  to  be  utterly 


70      THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


inadequate,  for  it  was  suited  only  to  a  kind  of  music 
that  is  reserved,  tranquil  and  colorless.  The  composers  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  particularly  Lassus  and  the  Vene- 
tians, had  used  chromatics,  often  profusely,  for  the  sake 
of  variety  in  expression,  but  without  system.  This  tend- 
ency had  gone  often  to  extreme  lengths  with  the  mad- 
rigal writers  (for  example,  the  prince  of  Venosa).  With 
Glarean  (first  half  of  the  sixteenth  century)  musical 
theory  recognized  twelve  modes  instead  of  eight,  the 
four  additions  including  the  Ionian  mode,  C  to  C,  and 
the  iEolian,  A  to  A,  —  scales  corresponding  to  our 
major  and  minor,  which  had  been  largely  in  use  in  the 
folk  music.  The  sense  of  the  leading  tone  had  long 
existed,  and  it  was  used  by  the  singers  to  establish 
cadences,  although  the  sharping  of  the  seventh  was  not 
indicated  in  the  score. 

With  the  simplifying  of  music  came  the  conception  of 
chords  as  definite  entities,  and  instead  of  basing  all 
music  on  a  theory  of  contrapuntal  progressions,  a  theory 
of  chords  was  sought  that  would  find  some  point  of 
departure  and  unity  in  their  combinations.  The  popu- 
larity of  the  lute,  whose  technic  is  a  hindrance  to  con- 
trapuntal effect,  was  a  great  help  in  the  direction  of 
simple  harmonization.  Practice  preceded  the  demon- 
strations of  theory.  "  The  instinct  of  harmony  found  out 
what  theory  only  later  comprehended,  that  a  perfectly 
satisfactory  cadence,  indeed  clear,  definite  harmonic 
structure,  is  possible  only  in  the  harmonic  group,  which 
places  next  to  the  chief  chord  (now  called  tonic)  both 
a  relative  from  the  upper  series  of  harmonics  (the  dom- 
inant), and  a  relative  from  the  lower  series  (the  sub- 


MADRIGAL  — OPERA  — MODERN  TONALITY  71 


dominant) "  (Riemann,  Catechism  of  Musical  History, 
part  i).  The  idea  of  major  and  minor  harmonies  is 
suggested  in  the  speculations  of  Zaiiino  (1517-1590). 
The  figured  bass,  examples  of  which  were  first  printed 
in  the  u  church  concertos  "  of  Viadana  (1602),  indicates 
a  feeling  for  the  harmonic  connection  of  notes.  Rameau, 
with  his  theory  of  the  inversion  of  chords  (1722),  and 
his  reference  of  the  major  triad  to  the  compound  nature 
of  sounds  ("upper  partials  "),  and  Tartini,  with  his  ex- 
planation of  the  minor  triad  (1714),  prepared  the  way  for 
the  fully  established  theory  of  chords. 

The  original  eight  modes  proved  unable  to  furnish 
satisfactory  cadences  without  the  alteration  of  notes, 
and  they  gradually  yielded  to  the  Ionian  and  the  iEolian 
which,  with  their  transpositions,  furnished  the  basis  of 
the  modern  major  and  minor  system.  Only  in  the  eigh- 
teenth century,  however,  was  the  old  modal  system  com- 
pletely supplanted. 

The  change  of  tonal  system  is  one  of  the  most  perplexing  in 
the  history  of  music,  and  the  historians  as  a  rule  either  avoid  an 
explanation  or  treat  the  subject  vaguely.  The  most  thorough  eluci- 
dation is  by  Riemann,  Catechism  of  Musical  History,  parts  i  and  ii. 
See  also  Parry,  The  Evolution  of  the  Art  of  Music,  chap.  2  ;  Oxford 
History  of  Music,  vol.  iii,  chap.  1 ;  Williams,  The  Story  of  Notation  ; 
Grove's  Dictionary,  article  Harmony. 


XII 


EARLY  GROWTH  OF  INSTRUMENTAL  MUSIC 

The  beginning  and  development  of  the  modern  instru- 
mental forms  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  subjects  in 
the  history  of  art.  The  reasons  why  instrumental  prog- 
ress lagged  so  long  behind  vocal  are  partly  obvious  and 
partly  obscure.  They  need  not  especially  detain  us. 
We  simply  note  that  when  chorus  music  had  reached  the 
highest  development  it  could  attain  under  the  mediaeval 
systems  of  tonality  and  counterpoint,  instrumental  music 
was  still  in  feeble  infancy.  The  church  composers,  in 
whose  hands  musical  culture  lay,  did  not  feel  the  need 
of  instruments  and  did  not  encourage  their  use.  Neither 
was  the  modal  system  adapted  to  the  special  require- 
ments of  an  instrumental  art.  The  organ  and  a  few 
wind  instruments  were  used  in  the  church,  but  only 
in  a  capacity  entirely  subordinate  to  the  voices.  The 
common  people  possessed  a  large  variety  of  instruments, 
which  they  used  in  a  primitive  way  to  accompany  the 
voice  and  regulate  the  dance.  Viols,  lutes,  dulcimers 
and  the  early  forms  of  the  clavichord  and  harpsichord 
were  cherished  in  social  life,  but  no  compositions  worthy 
of  consideration  were  produced  for  them  before  the  end 
of  the  sixteenth  century. 

The  great  musical  awakening  of  the  latter  part  of  the 
sixteenth  century  inevitably  stimulated  instrumental 


EARLY  GROWTH  OF  INSTRUMENTAL  MUSIC  73 


music,  and  at  this  point  the  history  of  this  art  begins. 
The  instruments  which  were  chiefly  associated  with 
this  advance  should  first  engage  the  student's  notice,  in 
order  that  the  facilities  at  the  disposal  of  instrumental 
composers  in  the  formative  period  may  be  understood. 

The  organ  may  properly  receive  the  first  attention  for, 
so  far  as  the  learned  composers  were  concerned,  organ 
music  was  the  first  to  develop  a  distinctly  instrumental 
style.  The  general  plan  of  the  construction  of  the 
modern  organ  should  be  familiar,  —  the  division  into 
separate  "  organs  "  (great,  swell,  pedal,  etc.),  the  nature 
of  the  registers  and  the  different  classes  of  tone,  the 
means  by  which  the  tones  are  produced  and  regulated, 
the  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  the  instrument 
as  compared  with  others,  the  style  of  music  and  technic 
best  suited  to  it,  the  reasons  for  its  special  adaptability 
to  the  needs  of  public  worship.  A  very  general  ac- 
quaintance with  the  history  of  the  organ  as  a  piece 
of  mechanism,  from  its  first  appearance  in  Western 
Europe  until  solo  organ  music  enters  the  field  of  progress 
in  the  sixteenth  century,  is  all  that  is  necessary  to  the 
student  of  the  history  of  music. 

A  thorough  explanation  of  the  capacity  and  treatment  of  the 
organ  may  be  found  in  Statham's  My  Thoughts  on  Music  and 
Musicians.  See  also  Lavignac,  Music  and  Musicians ;  Williams, 
The  Story  of  the  Organ  ;  Grove's  Dictionary,  article  Organ ;  Nau- 
mann,  History  of  Music,  vol.  i;  Riemann,  Catechism  of  Musical  His- 
tory, part  i.  Anyone  who  may  wish  to  study  works  on  practical 
organ  building  is  referred  to  Charles  Scribner's  Sons'  Musical  Liter- 
ature List. 

As  in  the  opera,  the  musical  awakening  of  the  latter 
part  of  the  sixteenth  century  tended  to  emphasize  in 


74      THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


instrumental  music  the  monodic  idea  of  tune  in  one  part 
with  free  accompaniment,  and  a  definite  harmonic  struc- 
ture that  could  be  foreseen  from  the  beginning  of  the 
piece.  But  conservative  influences  long  prevailed,  par- 
ticularly in  organ  music.  Among  the  Venetian  com- 
posers of  the  period,  particularly  Andrea  Gabrieli  (1510- 
1586),  Claudio  Merulo  (1533-1604)  and  Giovanni 
Gabrieli  (1557-1612),  we  find  a  style  of  organ  composi- 
tion gradually  setting  itself  free  from  vocal  counterpoint. 
Three  methods  appear  in  their  productions,  viz.  imita- 
tion of  the  chorus  music  of  the  church,  —  voice  parts 
transferred  to  the  keyboard ;  pieces  composed  of  running 
passages  on  the  basis  of  sustained  chords,  but  without 
any  definite  design  in  harmony  or  figuration;  and  the 
development  and  expansion  of  dance  forms.  The  first 
method,  gradually  becoming  more  instrumental  in  char- 
acter, produced  the  ricercare  and  canzona,  the  second  the 
toccata.  Dance  music  became  really  the  chief  basis 
of  modern  secular  music,  but  its  development  was 
naturally  more  given  to  instruments  of  the  violin  and 
piano  classes.  The  nature  and  use  of  the  organ  involved 
a  more  or  less  tenacious  holding  to  the  polyphonic  idea. 
The  organ  fugue,  fantasie  and  toccata,  therefore,  de- 
veloped out  of  the  ricercare,  canzona  and  toccata  of  the 
Venetians.  Composers  "  felt  the  imperative  need  of 
some  definite  musical  idea,  and  of  some  principle  of 
order  underlying  the  successive  presentations  of  the  idea. 
Hence,  among  the  first  indications  of  awakening  sense 
for  instrumental  effect  must  be  counted  the  appearance 
of  definite  subjects,  and  their  maintenance  throughout 
the  whole  of  a  movement "  (Parry,  Oxford  History  of 


EARLY  GROWTH  OF  INSTRUMENTAL  MUSIC  75 


Music,  vol.  iii).  The  form  of  the  modern  fugue,  with 
its  relation  of  tonic  and  dominant  in  subject  and  answer, 
its  counter-subject,  episodes,  stretti,  etc.,  and  its  balance 
of  keys,  was  gradually  established  by  the  Italian,  Dutch, 
Flemish  and  German  organists  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury. The  most  conspicuous  of  these  are  Frescobaldi, 
the  Roman  (about  1588-about  1650),  Jan  Pieterszoon 
Sweelinck  of  Amsterdam  (1562-1621),  the  Germans 
Scheidt,  Pachelbel  and  Froberger  and  the  Dane  Buxte- 
hude,  leading  up  to  J.  S.  Bach.  Frescobaldi  is  the 
earliest  known  composer  to  write  fugues  in  the  modern 
sense  of  the  term. 

For  the  history  of  organ  music  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth 
centuries  the  most  thorough  work  in  English  is  the  Oxford  History 
of  Music,  vol.  iii  (Parry).  The  whole  meaning  of  the  movement 
and  the  contributions  of  the  Venetians,  Frescobaldi  and  Sweelinck 
and  the  seventeenth-century  German  organists,  are  discussed  with 
admirable  fulness  and  clearness.  See  also  Parry,  The  Evolution  of 
the  Art  of  Music,  pp.  117-19. 

Copious  musical  examples  of  the  early  Venetian  organ  music 
may  be  found  in  Wasielewski's  Geschichte  der  Instrumentalmusik 
im  XVI.  Jahrhundert.  The  student  of  the  history  of  organ  music 
should  possess  Ritter's  Zur  Geschichte  des  Orgelspiels  for  the  sake 
of  the  musical  illustrations. 

The  lute,  now  obsolete,  demands  attention  here,  be- 
cause it  was  the  first  instrument,  except  the  organ, 
to  reveal  the  impulse  toward  the  harmonic  style 
as  contrasted  with  the  contrapuntal,  and  to  illustrate 
types  of  ornament  that  were  strictly  instrumental.  As 
a  stringed  instrument  of  the  guitar  class  played  with 
the  hand,  its  technic  was  but  little  suited  to  the  inde- 
pendent leading  of  imitating  parts,  but  almost  inevitably 


76      THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


presupposed  chords.  It  was  the  favorite  instrument  of 
high  society  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries, 
and  although  the  strong  contrapuntal  tradition  is  shown 
in  much  of  the  music  written  for  it,  yet  it  exerted  a 
powerful  influence  in  the  direction  of  simple  design, 
and  helped  to  familiarize  the  musical  world  with  the 
conception  of  melody  supported  by  chords  moving  in 
close  company  with  the  tune. 

Grove's  Dictionary,  article  Lute  ;  Oxford  History  of  Music,  vol.  iii, 
chaps.  1  and  5. 


XIII 


THE  VIOLIN  AND  ITS  MUSIC :  FIRST  STAGES  OF  THE 
SUITE  AND  SONATA 

Very  soon  after  the  organists  and  lutenists  began 
to  suggest  the  possibilities  of  a  style  suited  to  instru- 
ments, groups  of  violin  players  and  composers  appeared 
and  set  in  motion  an  impulse  of  the  highest  impor- 
tance in  the  history  of  music,  for  it  issued  in  the 
forms  that  have  come  to  ripeness  in  later  times  in 
the  sonata,  the  symphony  and  the  various  classes  of 
domestic  and  chamber  music.  The  reason  why  the  vio- 
lin took  predominance  in  the  formative  period  of  modern 
music  is  to  be  found  in  the  opportunities  it  afforded  for 
brilliancy  and  melodic  expressiveness.  Its  special  qual- 
ities almost  demanded  its  leadership  as  a  solo  instru- 
ment, so  that  composers,  while  for  a  long  time  using  it 
in  combination  with  other  bowed  and  wind  instruments 
in  works  which  mark  the  survival  of  the  polyphonic 
method,  were  also  drawn  to  write  pieces  for  violin  solo 
with  subsidiary  accompaniment  of  other  instruments  or 
of  an  organ  or  harpsichord  bass,  thus  leading  into  works 
and  groups  of  works  in  which  the  homophonic  principle 
ruled.    Hence  the  suite  and  the  sonata. 

The  significant  and  leading  fact  at  this  point  is  that 
the  violin  early  in  the  seventeenth  century  had  already 
reached  completion.    The  development  of  the  violin 


78      THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 

from  its  rude  beginnings  to  its  present  perfection  is  one 
of  the  most  interesting  subjects  in  the  history  of  instru- 
ment making.  It  may  be  traced  by  very  regular  steps 
from  the  lyre  and  monochord  of  the  Greeks  and  Ro- 
mans, through  the  crwth,  rebec,  geige  and  fidel  of  the 
Middle  Ages  and  the  viole  or  vielle  of  the  Troubadours  ; 
the  important  changes  in  model  which  produced  the  viol 
of  the  fifteenth  century  with  its  different  sizes  corre- 
sponding to  the  various  human  voices  ;  the  change  to  the 
final  violin  model  and  method  of  construction  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  and  its  final  refinement  of  detail 
under  the  skill  of  the  Amati,  the  Guarneri,  the  Stradi- 
vari and  other  renowned  makers  of  Cremona  and  Bres- 
cia, culminating  in  the  work  of  Antonio  Stradivari 
(about  1650-1737).  Among  the  four  bowed  instruments 
used  in  the  modern  orchestra  the  double  bass,  with  its 
flat  back  and  sloping  shoulders,  is  the  only  one  that  re- 
tains the  viol  model.  Only  the  place  and  time  of  the 
first  application  of  the  bow  to  the  ancient  stringed  in- 
strument, separating  instruments  of  the  viol  class  from 
those  of  the  guitar  and  mandolin  class,  is  still  unknown. 
The  date  cannot  be  later  than  the  eleventh  century. 
The  bow  of  the  present  day  is  the  invention  of  the 
Frenchman  Tourte,  about  1780.  The  violin  itself  has 
remained  unaltered  for  three  hundred  years  and  no 
further  improvement  seems  possible. 

The  article  Violin  in  Grove's  Dictionary  is  admirably  clear  and 
complete  on  the  history  and  construction  of  the  violin.  Other  in- 
teresting articles  in  Grove  are  Stradivarij  Double  Bass,  Viol,  Viola, 
Viol  da  Gamba,  Violoncello,  Bow  and  Tourte.  See  also  Riemann, 
Catechism  of  Musical  History,  part  i ;  Engel,  Researches  into  the  Early 
History  of  the  Violin  Family  ;  Hart,  The  Violin :  its  Famous  Makers 


THE  VIOLIN  — SUITE  AND  SONATA  79 


and  their  Imitators  (popular  edition)  ;  Sandys  and  Foster,  History  of 
the  Violin ;  Stoeving,  The  Story  of  the  Violin.  For  the  violin  special- 
ist there  are  numberless  books  on  violin  manufacture  and  history, 
the  titles  of  which  may  be  obtained  from  book  dealers  who  are 
especially  concerned  with  such  subjects.  Even  the  general  student 
should  know  something  of  the  tuning,  technical  effects  and  use  in 
the  orchestra  of  the  violin,  viola,  etc.  For  this  see  Lavignac,  Music 
and  Musicians,  and  standard  books  on  instrumentation,  for  example, 
Prout's  The  Orchestra,  vol.  i. 

The  history  of  instrumental  music  in  the  seventeenth 
century  is  largely  concerned  with  the  development  of 
violin  technic  and  the  slow  shaping  of  forms  which 
finally  issued  in  the  suite  and  the  sonata.  The  clue  to 
the  form  is  found  in  a  regular  return  of  the  principal 
theme  and  the  principal  key.  A  number  of  short  forms 
strung  together  (a  custom  which  soon  became  general) 
prepared  the  adoption  of  the  "  cyclic  forms,"  viz.  sonata 
and  suite.  The  application  of  florid  embellishments  to 
the  repeated  melody  prepared  the  way  for  the  "theme 
and  variations."  The  adoption  and  imitation  of  dance 
forms  was  of  prime  importance,  for  in  them  were  found 
at  hand  the  elements  of  free,  independent  melody,  simple 
key  relations  and  the  prominence  of  the  rhythmic  factor, 
on  all  of  which  the  establishment  of  forms  adequate 
to  the  needs  of  instrumental  expression  depended. 
The  word  "  sonata "  came  into  use,  at  first  meaning 
simply  a  piece  of  music  played  upon  instruments  as  dis- 
tinct from  one  intended  to  be  sung.  As  in  organ  music, 
the  violin  music  of  the  sixteenth  century  began  by  imi- 
tating contrapuntal  chorus  pieces.  The  imitative  style 
persisted  in  the  seventeenth  century,  but  gradually 
yielded  to  the  rhythmic  homophonic  style  in  which  the 


80      THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


dance  influence  is  conspicuous.  About  the  middle  of 
the  seventeenth  century  violin  sonatas  (not  at  all  the 
classic  sonata  form,  be  it  understood)  were  divided  into 
two  departments,  viz.  the  "  sonata  da  chiesa"  (church 
sonata)  and  the  "  sonata  da  camera  "  (chamber  or  draw- 
ing-room sonata).  The  former  consisted  of  three  or 
four  movements,  both  quick  and  slow,  one  or  more 
being  in  fugato  style.  The  sonata  da  camera  was  a 
string  of  dances ;  in  a  later  development  it  took  the 
name  of  suite.  The  modern  sonata  finds  its  ancestry  in 
both  these  forms,  plus  the  Italian  opera  aria. 

Although  other  bowed  and  wind  instruments  were 
kept  in  the  background  in  favor  of  the  beloved  violin, 
many  of  them  appear  in  connection  with  that  instrument 
in  accompanying  or  contrasting  parts.  With  Torelli 
(middle  of  seventeenth  century  to  1708)  appears  a  more 
systematic  use  of  such  association  of  instruments  in  the 
concerto  da  camera,  in  which  instead  of  a  mere  bass  ac- 
companiment, as  in  the  solo  violin  sonata,  one  or  two 
violins  work  now  in  union,  now  in  rivalry  with  a  group 
of  instruments,  following,  although  with  richer  variety, 
the  lines  of  the  concerto  da  chiesa.  This  primitive  con- 
certo does  not  emphasize  the  idea  of  virtuoso  display,  like 
the  modern  concerto,  and  is  rather  the  precursor  of  the 
string  quartet  and  the  symphony. 

The  dance  movements  of  the  chamber  sonata  stole 
into  the  church  sonata ;  the  polyphonic  structure  was 
gradually  altered  thereby,  and  the  modern  sonata  began 
to  emerge.  Regular  sections  and  periods  became  more 
and  more  established  on  the  basis  of  the  mutual  relations 
of  tonic  and  dominant.   Forms  enlarged  and  at  the  same 


THE  VIOLIN  — SUITE  AND  SONATA  81 


time  crystallized  into  symmetrical  patterns.  Progress 
was  hindered  by  a  lack  of  technical  skill  on  the  part  of 
the  players,  the  traditions  of  the  old  counterpoint  and 
the  incomplete  adaptation  to  the  new  key  system. 

The  first  stage  in  the  development  of  the  violin  sonata 
and  its  allied  forms  ends  with  Corelli  (1653-1713), 
the  first  violin  composer  whose  works  are  regular  and 
tuneful  enough  to  give  pleasure  at  the  present  day. 
The  works  before  him  were  crude  and  experimental ; 
little  beauty  or  expression  had  been  attained.  Corelli's 
sonatas,  both  church  and  chamber,  and  his  concertos 
indicate  the  establishment  of  the  essential  principles 
of  modern  instrumental  music  in  their  concentration 
and  definiteness  of  structure,  logical  system  of  tonality 
and  appropriateness  of  style  to  the  nature  of  the  medium 
employed.  Through  his  playing,  and  the  dynasty  of 
performers  founded  by  his  pupils,  Corelli  may  also  be 
reckoned  the  founder  of  modern  violin  technic. 

From  this  point  the  history  of  the  suite  and  sonata  is 
to  be  traced  in  the  music  composed  for  keyed  chamber 
instruments. 

For  the  history  of  the  first  stages  of  violin  music  and  the  sonata 
and  suite,  Parry  in  Oxford  History  of  Music,  vol.  iii,  and  The  Evolution 
of  the  Art  of  Musk,  is  the  best  guide.  See  also  Grove's  Dictionary, 
articles  Violin  Playing,  Form,  Sonata,  Schools,  Suite,  and  articles 
dealing  more  particularly  with  the  composers  and  performers  listed 
in  the  article  Violin  Playing.  The  most  available  collection  of 
compositions  of  the  first  violin  period  may  be  found  in  the  musi- 
cal appendix  to  Wasielewski's  Die  Violine  im  X  VII.  Jahrhundert. 


6 


XIV 


KEYED  CHAMBER  INSTRUMENTS :  PROGRESS  OF  THE 
CLAVIER  SUITE  AND  SONATA 

The  study  of  the  progress  of  the  sonata  and  the  suite 
should  be  taken  up  here  in  connection  with  the  history 
of  keyed  chamber  instruments.  These  instruments  were 
divided  into  two  classes  according  to  the  methods  by 
which  the  strings  were  set  in  vibration.  In  the  first  class, 
of  which  the  clavichord  is  the  type,  the  tone  was  pro- 
duced by  the  pressure  of  tangents  or  wedges.  The  second 
class  was  more  widely  diffused  and  included  instruments 
of  various  names,  —  harpsichord,  spinett,  virginal,  clave- 
cin (Fr.),  clavicembalo  (It.),  etc.  In  this  group  the  tone 
was  produced  by  perpendicular  "  jacks  "  with  projections 
which  twitched  the  strings,  producing  a  twanging  sound. 
In  the  first  order  (clavichord)  slight  differences  of  loud- 
ness could  be  obtained;  in  the  second  no  change  of 
force  on  the  part  of  a  single  string  was  possible,  but 
this  defect  was  partly  obviated  by  means  of  double  key- 
boards, stops  and  other  mechanical  contrivances.  The 
instruments  of  the  harpsichord  type  were  more  powerful 
than  the  clavichord.  The  German  term  "  clavier  "  may 
be  adopted  as  a  convenient  means  of  designating  all 
keyed  chamber  instruments  in  use  before  the  adoption 
of  the  pianoforte. 

For  the  history  and  construction  of  these  instruments  :  Groves' 
Dictionary,    articles    Clavichord,    Harpsichord,    Spinett,  Virginal 


KEYED  INSTRUMENTS  AND  THEIR  MUSIC  83 


Jack;  Henderson,  How  Music  Developed;  Bie,  History  of  the 
Pianoforte  and  Pianoforte  Players;  Weitzmann,  History  of  Piano- 
forte Playing ;  The  Steinert  Collection  of  Keyed  and  Stringed  Instru- 
ments (valuable  for  its  photographic  illustrations)  ;  Riemann, 
Catechism  of  Musical  History,  part  i;  Oxford  History  of  Music,  vol. 
iv,  chap.  6. 

The  clavier  began  to  be  conspicuous  in  musical  de- 
velopment after  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
although  it  had  a  favored  place  in  the  domestic  circle  at 
a  still  earlier  period.  The  cultivation  of  clavier  music  is 
mainly  the  work  of  the  French  and  the  Germans,  with 
the  priority  in  favor  of  the  French.  Most  of  the  forms 
of  music  in  use  were  applied  to  the  clavier,  —  dances 
and  variations  to  which  it  was  especially  suited,  as  well 
as  fugues,  toccatas  and  fantasias.  The  sonata,  however, 
remained  the  property  of  the  violin  until  the  close  of  the 
seventeenth  century. 

A  very  remarkable  development  of  clavier  music, 
apart  from  the  main  current,  appears  in  England  in 
the  latter  part  of  the  preceding  century  and  a  little 
later.  A  very  brilliant  and  promising  school  arose, 
distinguished  by  the  names  of  Tallis,  Byrd,  John  Bull, 
Gibbons  and  others.  The  special  aptitudes  of  the 
clavier,  particularly  the  harpsichord,  were  recognized 
by  these  men  long  before  a  literature  of  any  promise 
existed  for  it  upon  the  continent.  Many  collections  of 
pieces  were  published,  of  which  the  Parthenia  and  the 
Fitzwilliam  Virginal  Book  are  the  most  famous.  These 
and  other  collections  contain  an  immense  number  of 
pieces,  including  dances,  arrangements  of  vocal  pieces, 
preludes,  fantasias,  and,  most  important,  variations  on 
dance  tunes  and  popular  songs.    Many  of  these  pieces 


84      THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


are  still  attractive  in  their  quaint  melody,  their  grace  of 
movement,  clearness  of  plan  and  piquancy  of  their  pro- 
fuse ornamentation.  Surprising  anticipations  of  modern 
piano  effects  are  occasionally  found  in  them,  particularly 
in  the  compositions  of  John  Bull.  This  school  soon  died 
out  in  England  and  had  no  successor  there,  and  appears 
to  have  exerted  little  influence  upon  the  progress  of 
things  upon  the  continent. 

The  fullest  accounts  of  this  English  school  of  the  Elizabethan 
period  are  by  Bie,  History  of  the  Pianoforte  and  Pianoforte  Players, 
and  Parry,  in  vol.  iii  of  the  Oxford  History  of  Music.  Some  of  the 
best-known  pieces  of  this  school  are  published  in  the  Litolff  edi- 
tion. Also  Old  English  Composers  for  the  Virginals  and  Harpsi- 
chord, Pauer  (Augener),  London.  The  Fitzwilliam  Virginal  Book 
has  been  put  into  modern  notation,  edited  and  provided  with  a 
critical  and  historical  introduction  by  Maitland  and  Squire. 

Music  for  the  clavier  made  its  first  promising  appear- 
ance upon  the  continent  among  the  French  about  the 
middle  of  the  seventeenth  century.  It  took  its  start 
apparently  from  lute  music,  found  its  first  important 
representative  in  Jacques  Champion,  called  Chambon- 
nieres  (d.  about  1670),  and  soon  gave  to  the  world  an 
important  composer  in  Francois  Couperin  (1668-1733). 
Couperin's  clavier  works  consist  chiefly  of  sets  of  short, 
compact  pieces,  akin  to  suites,  and  called  by  him  ordres. 
They  are  in  dance  style,  piquant  in  rhythm,  melodi- 
ously graceful,  profusely  embroidered  with  embellish- 
ments of  many  patterns.  Large  numbers  of  them  bear 
titles  suggesting  objects  in  movement  or  at  rest,  portraits, 
sentiments,  etc.,  many  being  directly  imitative,  — a  quaint 
anticipation  of  modern  poetic  and  programme  tendencies, 
as  found  in  Schumann  and  his  successors.    The  irrepres- 


KEYED  INSTRUMENTS  AND  THEIR  MUSIC  85 


sible  French  love  of  the  dance  and  of  definite  represen- 
tation in  music  is  vividly  illustrated  in  Couperin's 
fanciful  and  volatile  little  pieces.  His  I? Art  de  toucher 
le  clavecin  (1717)  was  the  first  real  instruction  book 
for  the  clavier. 

Rameau  (1683-1764)  followed  lines  similar  to  those 
of  Couperin,  but  with  somewhat  more  breadth  and  free- 
dom of  style. 

Bie,  History  of  the  Pianoforte  and  Pianoforte  Players,  gives  the 
fullest  account  of  Couperin,  Rameau  and  the  early  French  clavier 
school.  See  also  Ox  ford  History  of  Music,  vol.  iv  ;  Parry,  The  Evolu- 
tion of  the  Art  of  Music.    Musical  examples  in  the  Litolif  edition. 

The  further  history  of  the  clavier  suite  takes  us  into 
Germany,  where  it  was  cultivated  by  all  the  instrumen- 
talists of  note,  and  received  its  highest  finish  at  the  hands 
of  Bach.  Great  numbers  of  dances  not  usually  con- 
tained in  the  suite  were  also  composed,  such  as  the 
chaconne,  rigaudon,  passacaglia,  polonaise,  pa  vane,  etc. 
Freer  forms  —  toccatas,  capriccios,  fantasias — also  flour- 
ished. The  great  popularity  of  tins  kind  of  music  indi- 
cated the  prevailing  demand  for  a  simpler,  more  tuneful 
and  more  rhythmical  style  than  the  old  polyphony,  and 
more  capable  of  reflecting  lighter  and  more  diverse  senti- 
ments. The  contrapuntal  idea  still  persisted,  however,  in 
the  clavier  fugue,  and  the  imitative  texture  is  also  often 
found  in  the  suite  dances,  as  in  those  of  Bach  and  Handel. 
The  limits  of  the  development  of  the  suite  were  reached 
early  in  the  eighteenth  century,  when  it  began  to  give 
way  to  the  sonata,  and  by  the  end  of  the  century  it  had 
disappeared. 


86      THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 

Large  and  interesting  collections  of  the  works  of  the  old  suite 
composers  have  been  made  by  Ernst  Pauer:  Alte  Klavier-Musik 
(Senff,  Leipzig)  and  Alte  Meister  (Breitkopf  and  Haertel,  Leipzig). 
Valuable  commentaries  by  Parry  in  Grove's  Dictionary,*  articles 
Form,  Suite. 

The  problem  of  combining  breadth  and  flexibility  of 
form  with  the  greatest  possible  depth  and  diversity 
of  expression  was  to  be  solved  only  through  the  sonata. 
This  movement,  inaugurated  by  means  of  violin  music, 
was  to  be  carried  to  its  realization  in  the  work  of  the 
pianoforte  composers  culminating  in  Beethoven.  The 
first  pieces  called  sonatas  (cyclic  pieces,  not  in  dance 
form)  written  for  the  clavier  were  those  of  Johann 
Kuhnau  of  Leipzig  (1667-1722).  This  was  in  1695  and 
1696.  Of  course  their  form  is  not  at  all  that  of  the  com- 
plete modern  sonata.  A  curious  phase  of  "  programme 
music"  is  in  Kuhnau's  "Bible  sonatas." 

For  Kuhnau :  Bie,  History  of  the  Pianoforte  and  Pianoforte 
Players ;  Shedlock,  The  Pianoforte  Sonata ;  Oxford  History  of 
Music,  vols,  hi  and  iv;  Grove's  Dictionary,  article  Sonata.  Ex- 
amples of  Kuhnau's  music  in  Pauer's  collections. 

Exceptional  among  the  Italians,  who  did  not  on  the 
whole  contribute  much  to  the  progress  of  clavier  music, 
was  Domenico  Scarlatti  (1683-1757),  who  was  the  most 
brilliant  performer  of  his  time,  and  whose  technic  reached 
far  over  toward  that  of  the  modern  pianistic  period.  In 
technical  legerdemain  he  stood  alone  in  his  day.  If 
he  had  models  they  are  now  unknown,  and  he  had 
no  immediate  followers.  His  daring  leaps,  passages  of 
double  thirds  and  sixths,  broken  chords  in  opposite  direc- 
tions, rapid  repetition  of  single  notes,  runs,  shakes,  oc- 


KEYED  INSTRUMENTS  AND  THEIR  MUSIC  87 


taves,  etc.,  are  daring  even  for  a  modern  pianist.  He 
wrote  a  large  number  of  so-called  "sonatas"  in  one 
movement,  each  in  two  sections.  They  have  only  one 
subject,  to  which  with  its  original  key  a  return  is 
made,  after  passing  through  related  tonalities.  There 
is  little  or  no  trace  of  a  pronounced  second  subject. 
Each  hand  usually  plays  one  part;  the  effect  is  light 
and  gay;  there  is  no  depth  of  feeling.  Scarlatti's 
importance  lies  in  his  revelation  of  new  possibilities  in 
his  instrument,  and  his  complete  emancipation  in  his 
sonatas  from  the  traditions  of  polyphony. 

Bie,  History  of  the  Pianoforte  and  Pianoforte  Players  ;  Shedlock, 
The  Pianoforte  Sonata ;  Oxford  History  of  Music,  vol.  iv ;  Parry, 
The  Evolution  of  the  Art  of  Music ;  Grove's  Dictionary,  article  Sonata. 
Breitkopf  and  Haertel  publish  an  edition  of  sixty  sonatas.  Billow's 
edition  (Peters)  alters  the  original  and  should  be  avoided. 

The  next  stage  in  the  history  of  the  clavier  sonata,  just 
before  the  completion  of  the  outlines  by  Haydn  and 
Mozart,  is  found  in  the  sonatas  of  Carl  Philipp  Emanuel 
Bach  (1714-1788).  He  not  only  extended  and  enriched 
the  form  of  the  sonata,  but  also,  through  his  musical  and 
social  influence,  gave  it  its  final  artistic  status  and  recog- 
nition. With  him  the  sonata  took  the  place  of  the  suite 
in  the  regard  of  musicians.  He  thus  introduced  a  new 
epoch.  His  sonatas  are  in  three  movements  which  often 
pass  into  each  other  without  pause  by  means  of  link 
passages.  The  sonata  form  is  nearly  complete  in  the 
first  movement,  but  the  second  subject  is  not  so  posi- 
tively differentiated  as  to  meet  the  full  requirements  of 
the  ultimate  form.  The  "  working-out  section  "  is  still  in 
embryo.   The  style  of  Bach's  sonatas  is  showy  and  fluent, 


88      THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


—  the  eighteenth-century  "  galant "  style  in  perfection. 
The  melody  is  buoyant  and  tuneful,  but  superficial ;  the 
slow  movements  dry ;  in  the  third  movement  the  rondo 
form  is  pretty  clearly  marked.  The  origin  of  Bach's 
sonatas  may  be  found  in  the  Italian  sonata,  the  concerto, 
the  dance  and  the  Italian  aria.  The  playing  technic 
of  C.  P.  E.  Bach  was  derived  from  his  father,  J.  S.  Bach, 
but  his  manner  of  fingering  is  even  more  advanced. 
His  technical  principles  were  elucidated  in  his  instruc- 
tion book,  Versuch  iiber  die  wahre  Art  das  Clavier  xu 
spielen  (1753).  C.  P.  E.  Bach  is  important  as  the  man 
who  established  once  for  all  the  direction  which  instru- 
mental music  was  to  take  after  the  middle  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century.  Its  task  was  to  develop  the  cyclic  form 
of  the  sonata,  based  on  the  homophonic  principle,  with  the 
principal  movement  in  three  sections  with  contrasted  sub- 
jects and  keys,  and  to  apply  this  scheme  of  design  to 
all  instruments,  both  solo  and  in  groups.  C.  P.  E.  Bach 
first  made  the  problem  clear  and  suggested  the  clue. 

References  the  same  as  for  Scarlatti;  also  Oxford  History  of  Music, 
vol.  v,  chaps.  3  and  7.  Bie  is  especially  full  and  analytic  on  the 
subject  of  Bach's  sonatas  and  their  historic  significance.  The 
sonatas  themselves  are  easily  accessible  in  editions  of  German 
publishers. 

Concerted  instrumental  music  in  the  seventeenth  and 
first  part  of  the  eighteenth  centuries  followed  much 
the  same  lines  of  progress  as  the  solo  suite  and  sonata. 
There  was  little  independence  of  instruments  or  atten- 
tion to  their  special  capabilities.  Instruments  doubled 
each  other  so  that  few  real  parts  were  used.  Independ- 
ent harmonic  movements  were  first  used  for  the  pre- 


KEYED  INSTRUMENTS  AND  THEIR  MUSIC  89 


ludes  to  operas.  True  progress  began  when  these 
preludes  or  overtures  were  played  apart  from  the  operas. 
Expansion  of  form  and  development  of  orchestration  led 
to  the  symphony. 

The  concerto  grosso  also  had  a  large  part  in  sug- 
gesting the  opportunities  in  contrasts  of  sound  and  in 
massed  effects.  The  main  themes  are  given  out  by  all 
the  instruments  together,  and  the  solo  instrument  or 
instruments  work  out  subsidiary  themes  and  figures. 
The  influence  of  this  form  was  strongly  felt  in  the 
development  of  the  sonata. 

References  on  early  orchestration  will  be  given  in  the  chapters 
on  Bach,  Handel  and  Haydn.  Parry,  The  Evolution  of  the  Art  of 
Music,  pp.  206-11,  may  be  consulted  here.  For  the  concerto 
grosso  :  Oxford  History  of  Music,  vol.  iv,  pp.  161-63  ;  Spitta,  Johann 
Sebastian  Bach. 


XV 


THE  ITALIAN  OPERA  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH 
CENTURY 

The  history  of  the  opera  draws  us  away  from  Florence, 
where  no  further  progress  was  made  along  the  lines 
laid  down  by  Peri  and  Caccini.  The  next  impulse  was 
given  by  Claudio  Monteverde  (1568-1643),  whose 
"  Arianna  "  and  "  Orfeo,"  produced  in  1607  at  the  court 
of  the  duke  of  Mantua,  established  the  new  genre 
permanently  in  art  history.  Like  the  founders  of  the 
opera  he  sought  for  dramatic  expression,  but  with  much 
greater  musical  means.  He  was  one  of  the  boldest 
innovators  in  the  annals  of  music.  As  composer  of 
madrigals  he  had  already  carried  consternation  among 
scholarly  musicians  by  his  radical  use  of  unprepared 
dissonances.  He  is  supposed,  for  instance,  to  have 
been  the  first  to  use  the  minor  seventh  free.  His 
operas  are  remarkable  in  view  of  their  date  for  variety 
of  vocal  effect,  poignancy  of  expression  in  the  recitative, 
feeling  for  melodious  beauty  and  particularly  for  the 
use  of  instruments  to  intensify  sentiment  and  situation. 
He  employed  as  many  as  fourteen  instruments,  giving 
a  considerable  amount  of  individuality  to  each.  The 
lament  of  the  heroine  in  "  Arianna,"  "  Lasciate  mi 
morire,"  is  to  be  found  in  many  collections  of  old 
Italian  music,  and  even  modern  musicians  can  under- 


ITALIAN  OPERA  IN  THE  17th  CENTURY  91 

stand  the  strong  effect  it  made  upon  the  audiences  of 
its  day.  It  also  plainly  foreshadows  the  later  binary 
form  of  the  aria. 

Monteverde's  controlling  motive,  viz.  strong  musical 
effect  as  a  means  to  dramatic  ends,  was  also  the  inspira- 
tion of  his  legitimate  successor,  Calletti  Bruni,  known  as 
Cavalli  (about  1600-1676),  a  Venetian ;  although  the 
harshness  and  startling  contrasts  of  harmony  and  accent, 
upon  which  his  predecessor  largely  relied,  give  way  to  a 
broader  and  more  moderate  method.  Cavalli  greatly 
influenced  Lully,  and  forms  the  connection  between  the 
old  Italian  grand  opera  and  the  French.  The  conception 
by  which  sensuous  charm  and  florid  display  in  vocalism 
are  set  aside  in  the  higher  interests  of  dramatic  truth 
may  be  traced  from  the  early  Florentines  through 
Monteverde,  Cavalli  and  Lully  to  Gluck. 

The  Oxford  History  of  Music,  vol.  iii  (Parry),  gives  the  fullest 
analysis  of  the  work  and  services  of  Monteverde  and  Cavalli. 
See  also  Apthorp,  The  Opera,  Past  and  Present;  Grove's  Dictionary, 
articles,  Opera,  Monteverde;  Henderson,  How  Music  Developed; 
Kiemann,  Catechism  of  Musical  History,  part  ii ;  Famous  Composers 
and  their  Works,  series  i,  article  Monteverde. 

At  this  point  Venice  was  the  centre  of  opera  produc- 
tion. The  first  public  opera  house  in  Europe  was 
opened  at  Venice  in  1637.  Before  this  time  the  operas 
had  been  performed  only  at  courts  and  in  private 
residences.  The  theatre  public  now  brought  its  taste 
to  bear  upon  the  style  of  the  opera.  Production  also 
rapidly  increased.  The  clue  to  the  history  of  opera  from 
this  time  on  is  the  struggle  between  the  principles  of 
music  for  dramatic  illustration  and  music  for  its  own 


92      THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


sake  as  mere  ear-pleasing.  The  latter  eventually  tri- 
umphed in  the  Italian  opera.  Action  and  spectacle 
yielded  to  vocalism ;  recitative,  chorus  and  instrumental 
music  were  sacrificed  to  the  aria.  With  the  transfer  of 
the  operatic  hegemony  from  Venice  to  Naples  the  aria 
rapidly  developed  and  drew  the  life  from  the  other 
musical  factors.  The  singer  as  vocalist  pure  and  simple 
began  to  rule  the  opera. 

The  influence  of  Giacomo  Carissimi  (probably  1604- 
1680)  must  be  admitted  as  aiding  the  tendency  to  the 
development  of  the  formal  musical  factors  at  the  expense 
of  the  histrionic.  He  wrote  no  operas,  however,  but  is 
noted  for  his  oratorios  and  cantatas.  As  a  musician  he 
was  superior  to  contemporary  opera  writers ;  a  master  of 
counterpoint,  he  combined  it  with  new  tonal  principles. 
His  oratorio  choruses  are  varied  and  dramatic,  even  at 
times  realistic,  and  are  among  the  direct  forerunners  of 
those  of  Handel.  His  influence  upon  the  opera  was 
through  the  power  of  expression  he  revealed  in  recitative 
and  aria. 

The  cantata  —  a  composition  for  single  voice,  consist- 
ing of  a  recitative  and  aria  or  several  recitatives  and  arias 
united  —  takes  a  prominent  place  in  the  history  of  music 
in  the  seventeenth  century,  lasting  to  the  middle  of  the 
eighteenth.  Varied  and  free  in  the  hands  of  Carissimi 
and  others  of  his  time,  it  afterwards  became  formalized 
like  the  opera  aria.  Carissimi's  influence  also  tended 
toward  the  secularization  of  the  style  of  church  music. 

The  oratorios  and  cantatas  of  Alessandro  Stradella 
(seventeenth  century)  indicate  high  musical  ability. 
But  little  is  known  of  his  life.    The  much-cited  story 


ITALIAN  OPERA  IN  THE  17™  CENTURY  93 


of  his  melting  the  hearts  of  his  would-be  murderers  by 

his  singing  is  apochryphal.   The  famous  "  Pieta  Signore," 

ascribed  to  him,  is  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  of 

unknown  authorship. 

Oxford  History  of  Music,  vol.  iii,  for  a  full  discussion  of  Ca- 
rissimi.  Also  Parry,  The  Evolution  of  the  Art  of  Music  ;  Grove's 
Dictionary,  articles  Cantata,  Oratorio,  Carissimi,  Stradella ;  Famous 
Composers  and  their  Works,  series  i,  article  Music  in  Italy.  Ca- 
rissimi's  oratorio,  uJephthah,"  is  published  in  Novello's  octavo 
edition. 

The  operas  of  the  early  seventeenth  century  were 
based  on  antique  subjects,  chiefly  mythological,  but  with- 
out a  trace  of  the  elevated  antique  spirit.  Choruses  and 
dances  abounded.  The  aria  began  to  separate  from  the 
recitative  and  assume  a  three-section  form.  In  Cavalli's 
time  comic  scenes  and  interludes  were  introduced,  the 
opera  buffa  not  yet  forming  a  distinct  class.  There  was 
a  profusion  of  spectacle  and  machinery. 

New  methods  of  singing  arose  with  the  opera,  made 
necessary  by  dramatic  laws.  The  famous  "Italian 
method  "  was  established  on  scientific  principles  of  train- 
ing in  the  seventeenth  century.  Rules  of  singing  had 
already  been  given  by  Caccini,  relating  to  tone  produc- 
tion, expression,  embellishments,  etc.  Freedom  of  ex- 
tempore ornamentation,  encouraged  for  centuries  in  the 
church  music,  was  carried  over  into  the  opera.  Two 
styles  became  recognized,  the  " florid"  and  the  "pathetic." 

Caccini  lays  chief  emphasis  on  expression.  As  the 
opera  grew  into  a  mere  display  ground  for  the  voice 
toward  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century,  his  moderate 
rules  were  altered  for  the  sake  of  laying  greater  stress  on 
power  and  flexibility.    The  female  voice,  excluded  from 


94      THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


the  church,  found  opportunity  in  the  theatre,  and  this 
epoch  is  especially  worthy  of  praise  for  introducing  the 
beneficent  influence  of  woman  into  musical  culture. 

The  opera  composers  of  Italy  are  to  be  studied  in 
groups  or  schools.  The  line  of  progress,  starting  at 
Florence,  runs  through  Venice  (Monteverde,  Cavalli, 
Legrenzi)  to  Naples,  the  Neapolitan  school,  late  in  the 
seventeenth  century,  establishing  the  permanent  technical 
structure  and  the  musical  and  poetic  character  of  the 
Italian  opera  as  it  was  to  remain  throughout  the 
eighteenth  century.  Rome,  the  centre  of  church  music, 
contributed  little  to  the  opera  except  indirectly  through 
the  influence  of  Carissimi. 

The  permanent  technical  structure  and  musical  and 
poetic  character  of  the  old  Italian  opera  were  established 
in  Naples  late  in  the  seventeenth  century.  The 
acknowledged  head  of  Italian  opera  at  this  time  was 
Alessandro  Scarlatti  (1659-1725).  As  composer, 
director  and  teacher  his  influence  was  paramount  in  Italy 
and  extended  all  over  Europe.  At  least  thirteen  of  his 
pupils  attained  European  renown  as  opera  writers,  and 
they  with  Scarlatti  compose  the  far-famed  Neapolitan 
school  which  established  the  conventions  that  controlled 
all  Italian  grand  opera  in  the  eighteenth  century.  Scar- 
latti did  not,  as  often  alleged,  invent  the  da  capo  aria,  but 
he  made  it  the  most  conspicuous  feature  of  his  operas. 
In  his  works  the  three-movement  Italian  overture  (quick, 
slow  and  quick  movements),  the  precursor  of  the  sym- 
phony, is  fully  developed.  Scarlatti  possessed  brilliant 
musical  gifts,  chiefly  in  the  line  of  easy,  tuneful  melody, 
but  his  scheme  of  opera  —  strings  of  da  capo  arias 


ITALIAN  OPERA  IN  THE  17™  CENTURY 


95 


separated  by  secco  recitative  —  affording  the  stereotyped 
model  for  his  successors  for  one  hundred  years,  blasted 
all  hope  of  a  true  musical  drama  in  Italy.  Scarlatti's 
musical  learning  is  shown  in  his  really  powerful  and 
impressive  church  works  in  the  a  capella  style.  He  was 
exceedingly  prolific  also  as  a  writer  of  solo  cantatas. 

Scarlatti  receives  much  attention  in  all  the  musical  histories. 
See  especially  the  Oxford  History  of  Music,  vol.  iii,  chap.  9.  For 
briefer  surveys  :  Parry,  The  Evolution  of  the  Art  of  Music  :  Famous 
Composers  and  their  Works,  series  i,  article  Music  in  Italy  ;  Grove's 
Dictionary,  articles  Opera,  Scarlatti. 

The  influence  of  the  opera  style  upon  church  music  is 
one  of  the  most  interesting  details  of  its  history.  Noble 
works  continued  to  be  produced,  following  the  great 
traditions  of  the  sixteenth-century  a  capella  school,  but 
with  the  exchange  of  the  old  modal  counterpoint  for 
a  counterpoint  based  on  the  new  tonality  a  more 
agitated  and  definitely  expressive  style  made  its  appear- 
ance. (For  example,  works  by  Scarlatti  and  Lotti.) 
Side  by  side  with  this  form  appeared  a  form  almost 
completely  made  over  into  the  semblance  of  the  accom- 
panied dramatic  style  of  opera  melody  and  oratorio 
chorus.  In  many  quarters,  particularly  in  the  eighteenth 
century,  church  music  became  incredibly  shallow,  florid 
and  tawdry.  The  long-delayed  reaction  against  this 
profanation  of  ecclesiastical  art  is  far  from  complete 
even  at  the  present  day. 

For  the  history  of  the  musical  mass  in  the  modern  epoch : 
Dickinson,  Music  in  the  History  of  the  Western  Church,  chap.  6; 
also  Oxford  History  of  Music,  vol.  iii,  pp.  400-8. 


XVI 


THE    OPERA  BUFF  A,    SEVENTEENTH    AND  EIGH- 
TEENTH CENTURIES 

In  the  history  of  the  opera  we  distinguish  two  classes 
viz.  the  serious  or  grand  opera,  and  the  comic.  In  later 
periods  they  have  influenced  each  other  and  have  at 
times  tended  to  amalgamate;  the  serious  opera  admit- 
ting elements  of  humor  (Mozart's  "  Don  Giovanni "  ), 
and  the  comic  being  raised  into  comedy  of  an  elevated 
and  earnest  type.  The  Italian  serious  opera  in  its 
early  history  in  Venice  often  contained  elements  of 
farce,  sometimes  in  loose  connection  with  the  main  plot, 
sometimes  detached  in  the  form  of  intermezzi.  This 
connection  soon  dissolved,  the  comic  opera  was  developed 
into  a  distinct  genre,  and  in  the  nourishing  period  of  the 
old  Italian  opera  the  two  classes  of  opera  seria  and 
opera  buffa  were  entirely  independent  of  each  other. 

The  origin  of  the  opera  buffa  is  to  be  sought  in  the 
primitive  popular  farces,  burlesques  and  puppet  shows, 
which  can  be  traced  back  into  Roman  antiquity.  The 
Italians  have  always  possessed  a  fondness  for  mimicry 
and  satire,  and  great  skill  in  improvising  comic  dialogues 
and  situations.  The  common  people  delighted  in  rude 
plays,  partly  or  wholly  extemporized,  performed  in  the 
open  air,  abounding  in  local  hits,  satirizing  the  follies 
and  vices  of  their  social  superiors,  very  often  also 


THE  OPERA  BUFFA 


97 


affording  a  safe  cover  for  heretical  or  seditious  sugges- 
tions. The  spoken  dialogue  was  interspersed  with 
popular  songs.  Where  musical  comedy  is  indigenous 
in  any  nation  it  always  begins  in  this  manner  of  unit- 
ing music  and  spoken  drama  (French  ope'ra-comique, 
German  Singspiel,  English  ballad  opera). 

The  numerous  intermezzi  in  the  serious  opera  drew 
their  subjects  and  characters  from  the  popular  comedy. 
The  professional  composers,  seeing  an  opportunity  there 
for  development,  separated  these  interludes  from  the 
serious  opera.  The  comic  opera  first  began  to  acquire 
musical  dignity  in  the  hands  of  the  composers  of  Naples. 
Logroscino  (about  1700-1763)  was  the  first  important 
composer  of  opera  buffa. 

The  opera  buffa  soon  showed  superiority  to  the  opera 
seria  in  dramatic  liveliness  and  reality.  Its  characters 
were  taken  from  real  life,  and  large  freedom  of  treat- 
ment was  allowed  to  librettists  and  composers.  Al- 
though it  established  a  certain  conventional  stock  of 
characters  (the  lovers,  the  pedantic  tutor,  the  blunder- 
ing valet,  the  pert  waiting  maid,  etc.),  it  never  petrified 
into  dull  routine  like  the  opera  seria.  The  secco  recita- 
tive was  adopted  for  the  rapid  dialogue  and  the  "busi- 
ness "  of  the  piece.  A  briefer  and  more  pungent  form 
of  solo  music  was  usually  employed  in  place  of  the  da 
capo  aria.  The  bass  voice,  neglected  in  the  opera  seria, 
came  to  its  rights  in  the  opera  buffa.  The  humorous 
male  parts  were  commonly  basses ;  the  buffa  aria,  given 
by  a  bass,  characterized  by  extreme  volubility,  was  the 
creation  of  the  opera  buffa.  Concerted  movements, 
trios,  quartets,  etc.,  which  were  eliminated  from  the 

7 


98     THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


opera  seria,  were  prominent  in  the  buffa.  A  very  im- 
portant contribution  to  the  world's  art  was  the  ensemble 
or  finale,  —  a  concerted  movement  at  the  end  of  an  act, 
in  which  all  or  most  of  the  characters  appeared  together, 
each  preserving  his  individuality  in  music  and  action, 
thus  enabling  librettist  and  composer  to  work  out  a  scene 
of  dramatic  and  musical  intricacy  and  liveliness.  The 
finale,  appearing  first  as  a  pronounced  feature  in  the 
works  of  Logroscino,  was  greatly  enlarged  by  Piccinni, 
and  brought  to  its  culmination  by  Mozart. 

The  whole  effort  of  the  opera  buffa  was  towards  truth 
of  characterization  in  music  and  action.  The  nature  of 
the  patronage  of  the  opera  buffa  conditioned  its  character. 
It  was  an  amusement  of  and  for  the  people ;  it  was  free 
from  aristocratic  restraint  and  formality.  The  great 
singers  avoided  it ;  their  art  was  one  of  technical  display 
and  was  not  suited  to  lively  action.  The  opera  buffa, 
inferior  to  the  opera  seria  in  musical  brilliancy,  pos- 
sessed variety  and  naturalness,  and  hence  contained  the 
elements  of  true  musical  drama  as  it  was  conceived  in 
later  times.  Its  vitality  was  preserved  by  its  constant 
effort  to  portray  real  life  and  sincere  sentiments.  This 
principle  preserved  the  opera  buffa  from  the  stagnation 
which  fell  upon  the  old  opera  seria,  and  explains  its 
influence  upon  the  modern  musical  drama. 

Some  of  the  most  important  composers,  after  Logros- 
cino, who  contributed  to  the  opera  buffa  are  Galuppi 
(1706-1785),  Pergolese  (1710-1736),  Piccinni  (1728- 
1800),  Paisiello  (1741-1815),  Cimarosa  (1749-1801). 
In  the  hands  of  these  men  the  opera  buffa  suffered  no 
decline,  such  as  that  which  afflicted  and  finally  destroyed 


THE  OPERA  BUFF  A 


99 


the  old-school  opera  seria.  In  fact,  Cimarosa's  "  II  Ma- 
trimonio  segreto  "  is  the  strongest  work  of  its  kind  before 
Rossini's  "II  Barbiere  di  Siviglia."  In  steadiness  of 
movement  and  in  the  strength  and  richness  of  texture 
given  by  the  ensemble  movements,  Cimarosa's  operas 
helped  to  preserve  for  the  next  century  dramatic  tradi- 
tions which  had  an  unmistakable  influence  upon  the 
revival  of  Italian  music. 

Parry,  The  Evolution  of  the  Art  of  Music;  Famous  Composers 
and  their  Works,  series  i;  Grove's  Dictionary,  articles  Intermezzo, 
Opera;  Apthorp,  The  Opera,  Past  and  Present;  Jahn,  Life  of 
Mozart,  vol.  i,  chap.  10;  Vernon  Lee,  Studies  of  the  Eighteenth 
Century  in  Italy,  chaps.  3  and  5;  Oxford  History  of  Music,  vol.  v. 


XVII 


RISE   OF   THE  OPERA  IN   FRANCE,  SEVENTEENTH 
CENTURY 

The  student  of  the  history  of  the  opera  next  turns  to 
France,  where  a  school  of  dramatic  music,  varying  in 
some  important  particulars  from  the  Italian,  was  founded 
about  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century.  Partly 
based  on  traits  and  forms  characteristic  of  the  nation, 
partly  adopting  Italian  ideas,  the  French  opera  showed 
independent  strength  from  the  first,  and  rapidly  de- 
veloped qualities  by  which  it  has  been  distinguished 
through  aU  its  history.  The  peculiar  marks  of  the 
French  opera  in  the  seventeenth  century  were  the  im- 
portance given  to  the  chorus  and  ballet,  the  restriction 
of  the  expansive  tendencies  of  the  aria,  and  the  greater 
variety  and  force  imparted  to  the  recitative.  In  a  word, 
the  French  refused  to  sacrifice  action,  scenic  effect  and 
dramatic  reality  to  showy  vocalism.  On  this  ground 
is  to  be  traced  the  division  between  the  Italian  and 
the  French  schools. 

Before  the  invention  of  the  Italian  opera,  a  semi- 
dramatic  form  of  entertainment,  called  ballet,  was  greatly 
in  favor  at  the  French  court.  The  ballet  consisted  of 
processions,  tableaux  and  dances,  loosely  organized  on 
the  basis  of  a  representation  from  Greek  mythology  or 
some  allegorical  idea,  depending  for  interest  upon  gor- 


RISE  OF  THE  OPERA  IN  FRANCE  101 


geous  costume  and  decoration,  scenic  splendor  and  every 
kind  of  fantastic  mummery.  There  was  always  music, 
vocal  and  instrumental;  dialogue  being  interspersed 
with  brief  melodious  songs  and  bands  of  instruments 
playing  dance  tunes.  The  ballet  was  the  stock  upon 
which  the  French  opera  was  grafted,  plot  being  devel- 
oped, certain  redundancies  shorn  away,  and  the  musical 
element  enlarged  and  made  continuous.  The  dance, 
the  chorus  and  the  brilliant  spectacle  survived. 

The  first  appearance  of  an  Italian  opera  troupe  in 
1645  gave  a  musical  stimulus  to  the  ballet.  Higher 
dramatic  effect  was  suggested  by  the  recitative.  The 
influence  of  Monteverde's  ideas  was  felt  in  the  French 
opera  through  Cavalli,  who  went  to  Paris  in  1660.  The 
French  were  not  satisfied  to  adopt  Italian  opera  outright, 
but  aimed  at  a  style  in  which  declamation,  suggested  by 
the  Italians,  could  be  united  with  piquant  melodies  and 
ballet  scenes.  The  first  attempt  at  a  distinctly  French 
opera  was  in  the  "  Pastorale,"  composed  by  Cambert  to 
a  text  by  Perrin  in  1659.  How  original  this  was  cannot 
be  known,  for  the  score  has  been  lost.  It  was  evidently 
superior  to  the  Italian  opera  in  simplicity  and  natural- 
ness. "  Pomone,"  by  the  same  authors,  was  performed 
in  1671.  Cavalli's  "Serse"  and  "  Ercole  amante  "  had 
been  produced  in  Paris  in  1660  and  1662.  In  the  latter 
is  to  be  found  essentially  the  pattern  which  French  opera 
was  to  follow,  —  the  elaborate  prologue,  followed  by  the 
drama  proper  consisting  of  choruses,  arias,  recitatives 
and  dances,  affording  elaborate  grouping  and  scenic  ar- 
rangements. "  Pomone  "  was  fashioned  after  this  general 
design. 


102    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


The  credit  for  the  creation  of  the  French  opera,  there- 
fore, can  hardly  be  assigned  to  any  one  individual.  Its 
historic  position  among  the  national  art  forms  of  the  sev- 
enteenth century  was  assured  to  it  by  Jean  Baptiste 
de  Lully,  who  was  granted  a  monopoly  by  Louis  XIV. 
in  1672,  and  was  sole  manager,  and  almost  sole  composer, 
of  opera  for  the  kingdom  until  his  death  in  1687. 

The  career  of  the  naturalized  Italian  Lully  (born  at 
Florence,  1633)  was  a  very  singular  one.  Coming  into 
the  service  of  the  French  king  penniless  and  obscure, 
he  attracted  attention  by  his  songs  and  dance  pieces, 
and  by  his  cleverness  in  arranging  divertissements  danses. 
He  rose  rapidly  in  royal  favor,  developing  remarkable 
skill  as  dancer,  stage  manager,  contriver  of  ballets  and 
later  of  operas.  He  had  the  advantage  of  the  assistance 
of  such  poets  as  Moliere  and  Quinault.  He  gave  the 
French  grand  opera  the  stamp  which  it  preserved  with- 
out change  for  one  hundred  years. 

The  French  type  of  overture  is  established  in  Lully's 
works  and  consists  of  a  slow  and  stately  movement, 
followed  by  a  quick  number  in  a  fugal  style,  with 
sometimes  a  third  movement  either  slow  like  the  first 
or  in  the  form  of  a  minuet.  (Cf.  the  Italian  overture, 
chap,  xv.)  The  pompous  prologue  had  no  connection 
with  the  action,  and  its  purpose  was  fulsome  eulogy  of 
the  king.  Lully  was  a  better  dramatist  and  stage  mana- 
ger than  musician.  In  spite  of  a  considerable  gift  of 
melody  which  showed  itself  in  the  songs  and  ballet  airs, 
his  music  would  now  be  considered  pedantic  and  intoler- 
ably dry.  His  effort  was  to  make  the  words  distinct  and 
to  emphasize  the  sentiment,  to  observe  the  laws  of  French 


RISE  OF  THE  OPERA  IX  FRANCE  103 

prosody  and  to  maintain  a  correct  and  incisive  decla- 
mation. His  subjects  were  usually  mythological ;  he 
relied  for  his  effect  not  only  upon  the  poetry  and  music, 
but  still  more  upon  decoration,  pantomime  and  dancing. 
He  gave  prominence  to  the  chorus.  His  orchestration  is 
monotonous  and  mechanical.  His  recitative  is  of  the 
accompanied  variety.  He  strove  to  discover  the  point 
of  union  among  the  arts  of  poetry,  music  and  action. 
He  did  not,  like  the  Italians,  permit  musical  effect  to 
overpower  all  other  elements.  He  thus  enforced  a  true 
principle,  and  established  the  permanent  traditions  of 
dramatic  expression  in  the  French  opera,  which  has 
always  resisted  the  Italian  tendency  to  make  poetry  and 
plot  subservient  to  musical  display. 

Lully's  operas  are  a  reflection  of  the  tone  and  manners 
of  the  French  court  in  the  seventeenth  century  and  of 
the  general  French  art  of  the  time.  They  are  formal 
and  artificial,  incessantly  working  over  the  same  ideas 
and  conventional  schemes  of  structure  and  ornament. 
No  progress  was  made  by  the  inferior  composers  that 
followed  Lully. 

Oxford  History  of  Music,  vol.  iii ;  Famous  Composers  and  their 
Works,  series  i,  articles  Lully,  Music  in  France;  Apthorp,  The 
Opera,  Past  and  Present ;  Grove's  Dictionary,  articles  Lully,  Opera  ; 
Jahn,  Life  of  Mozart,  chap.  18;  Xewman,  Gluck  and  the  Opera; 
Parry,  The  Evolution  of  the  Art  of  Music ;  Henderson,  How  Music 
Developed. 

Jean  Philippe  Rameau  (1683-1764),  a  musician 
of  far  greater  genius  and  learning  than  Lully,  made  no 
essential  change  in  the  structure  or  style  of  the  French 
grand  opera.    He  increased  the  variety  and  expressive- 


104    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


ness  of  the  aria  and  recitative ;  he  greatly  enriched  the 
harmony,  and  made  a  long  step  in  advance  through  the 
greater  importance  given  to  the  accompaniment.  He  so 
far  revealed  the  latent  powers  of  the  orchestra  that  he 
may  be  considered  one  of  the  founders  of  modern  or- 
chestration. His  operas  procured  him  a  place  beside 
Lully  in  the  affection  of  the  French  people.  Before 
turning  his  attention  to  opera  he  distinguished  himself 
as  an  organ  and  harpsichord  player  and  as  an  instru- 
mental composer.  He  pursued  profound  scientific  in- 
vestigations into  the  nature  of  the  chord,  and  is  esteemed 
one  of  the  founders  of  the  modern  theory  of  harmony. 
"  Rameau,  by  the  efforts  of  his  own  genius,  constructed 
a  national  French  opera  upon  the  foundations  laid  by 
Lully,  and  the  further  development  of  the  grand  opera 
proceeded  along  the  lines  laid  down  by  him.  Not  only 
can  the  framework  and  design  of  these  early  operas 
be  recognized  in  the  grand  opera  of  the  present  day,  but 
French  dramatic  music,  spite  of  many  transformations, 
betrays  its  relationship  with  the  early  masters  in  many 
peculiarities  of  melody,  rhythm  and  harmony  "  (Jahn, 
Life  of  Mozart,  vol.  ii,  p.  7). 

Oxford  History  of  Music,  vol.  iv;  Jahn,  Life  of  Mozart,  chap.  18; 
Apthorp,  The  Opera,  Past  and  Present;  Famous  Composers  and 
their  Works,  series  i,  articles  Rameau,  Music  in  France ;  Grove's 
Dictionary,  articles  Rameau,  Opera  ;  Parry,  The  Evolution  of  the  Art 
of  Music ;  Henderson,  How  Music  Developed. 


XVIII 


ITALIAN  OPERA  SERIA  IN  THE  EIGHTEENTH 
CENTURY 

The  history  of  the  opera  seria  in  Italy  in  the 
eighteenth  century  is  that  of  a  stereotyped  form,  culti- 
vated by  a  large  number  of  composers  whose  work  was 
so  conventional,  cut  after  a  single  prescribed  pattern, 
that  a  description  of  the  work  of  one  would  apply 
almost  exactly  to  the  work  of  all  the  others.  The  ex- 
amination of  the  compositions  of  two  or  three  typical 
composers  would  give  us  all  the  instruction  we  should 
need  upon  the  whole  school.  Every  opera  consisted  of 
a  large  number  of  arias,  planned  upon  much  the  same 
general  lines,  connected  by  long  stretches  of  monotonous 
recitative.  Supreme  emphasis  was  laid  upon  vocalism 
to  the  neglect  of  dramatic  naturalism  and  portrayal  of 
character.  The  plays  were  all  run  in  much  the  same 
mould ;  the  personages  conformed  to  fixed  and  almost 
invariable  types;  plots  were  constructed  upon  an  un- 
imaginative routine.  Dramatic  truth  was  hardly  con- 
sidered in  action,  scenery  or  accessories,  and  not  at  all 
in  costume.  The  whole  stress  was  laid  upon  brilliant 
and  pathetic  singing ;  to  that  every  other  element  was 
sacrificed,  and  the  opera  became  little  more  than  a 
concert. 

The  explanation  of  this  anomaly  is  to  be  found  in  the 


106    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


fact  that  the  genius  of  musical  Italy  at  that  time  was  for 
melody,  conforming  thereby  to  popular  demand.  The 
reaction  against  counterpoint  was  still  in  progress. 
The  patrons  of  the  opera  seria  were  the  nobility,  who 
had  no  higher  view  of  art  than  an  elegant  and  superficial 
entertainment.  The  opera,  so  conditioned,  fostered  a 
school  of  vocalists  of  extraordinary  skill,  and  the  fasci- 
nation of  their  performances  disguised  those  weaknesses 
which  at  last  proved  fatal  to  this  hollow  form  of  art. 
The  history  of  the  Italian  serious  opera  in  the  eigh- 
teenth century  is,  therefore,  merely  the  history  of  vocal 
melody  and  singing,  and  the  conditions  which  developed 
and  fostered  them. 

These  tendencies  were  completely  established  by  Scar- 
latti (see  chap,  xv)  and  the  school  of  Naples.  Having 
traced  the  early  history  of  the  opera  from  Florence  to 
Venice,  the  student  will  study  the  character  of  the  Nea- 
politan opera  as  the  type  to  which  the  whole  Italian 
dramatic  music  in  Italy,  Germany,  England  and  else- 
where conformed.  The  list  of  the  Italian  composers 
following  Scarlatti  who  studied  at  Naples  includes  Du- 
rante (1684-1755),  Leo  (1694-1746),  Porpora  (1686- 
1767),  Vinci  (1690-1732),  Logroscino  (about  1700-1763), 
Pergolese  (1710-1736),  Jommelli  (1714-1774),  Piccinni 
(1728-1800),  Sacchini  (1734-1786),  Paisiello  (1741- 
1815),  Cimarosa  (1749-1801),  Zingarelli  (1752-1837). 

Venetian  composers  :  Legrenzi  (1625-1690),  Lotti 
(1667-1740),  Caldara  (1678-1768),  Galuppi  (1706-1785). 

Others  especially  conspicuous  are  Bononcini(1672-?) 
and  Clari  (1669  to  about  1745),  both  of  Bologna. 

Besides  these  there  was  an  incalculable  swarm  of 


ITALIAN  OPERA  IX  THE  18™  CENTURY  107 


Italian  opera  composers,  whose  work  differed  in  merit 
but  not  in  essential  style.  Handel,  Gluck  (in  his  early 
works),  Hasse  (1699-1783)  and  Graun  (1701-1759) 
were  the  most  eminent  German  musicians  whose  work 
was  modelled  upon  that  of  the  Italian  school.  Contem- 
porary writers  seem  to  find  marked  differences  of  style 
and  merit  in  the  operas  of  the  most  prominent  Italian 
composers,  but  the  student  of  the  present  day  finds  diffi- 
culty in  discovering  any  individuality  among  them.  It 
was  a  characteristic  of  the  age  that  composers  in  all 
departments,  with  one  or  two  notable  exceptions,  were 
content  to  submit  slavishly  to  reigning  fashions,  instead 
of  trying  to  lead  the  art  into  new  paths. 

The  student  of  the  Italian  opera  will  note  a  singular 
survival  of  the  Renaissance  passion  for  the  antique  in 
the  plots  and  characters.  The  latter  were  taken  almost 
entirely  from  Greek,  Roman  and  Persian  history  and 
mythology,  but  their  associations  and  doings  were  entirely 
the  invention  of  the  librettists  ;  the  plots  were  in  no 
sense  historic,  being  usually  a  complicated  tissue  of  love 
intrigues  and  conspiracies.  The  plots,  as  well  as  the 
musical  forms,  came  at  last  to  be  run  in  the  same 
general  mould.  Everything  was  stilted  and  artificial. 
There  were  usually  six  principal  characters,  three  men 
and  three  women,  accompanied  by  a  few  accessory  per- 
sonages, —  messengers,  confidants,  etc.  The  amount  of 
action  varied,  but  the  life,  vigor  and  realism  of  modern 
operatic  action  were  virtually  unknown.  The  librettos 
consisted  of  blank  verse  and  rhymed  stanzas,  the  former 
for  the  recitative,  the  latter  for  the  arias.  The  opera 
poet  was  usually  a  nullity.    An  exception  to  this  was 


108    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


Pietro  Trapassi,  called  Metastasio  (1698-1782),  the  most 
celebrated  of  all  court  opera  poets,  and  a  man  of  con- 
siderable literary  ability,  who  labored,  occasionally  with 
some  success,  to  give  more  poetic  value  and  dramatic 
life  to  opera  texts.  Most  of  the  chief  opera  writers  used 
his  librettos ;  he  often  worked  with  the  composer  and 
helped  to  direct  performances. 

The  poet  was,  as  a  rule,  entirely  subordinate  to  the 
composer,  and  he  in  turn  to  the  singer,  the  latter  being 
the  real  lord  of  the  opera.  The  work  existed  solely  for 
the  honor  and  glory  of  the  singer,  purely  as  singer,  not 
as  singer  and  actor  combined.  The  audience  cared  little 
or  nothing  for  the  play,  and  listened  only  to  the  arias, 
which  they  judged  with  the  greatest  keenness  on  techni- 
cal grounds.  The  composer  usually  wrote  for  particular 
singers,  and  must  consider  their  special  capabilities  and 
humor  their  caprices.  The  effect  depended  little  upon 
the  music  but  a  great  deal  upon  the  voice  and  delivery 
of  the  performer,  and  particularly  upon  his  improvised 
embellishments.  Arias  were  divided  into  arbitrary 
classes ;  the  "  laws  "  of  the  opera  prescribed  how  these 
should  be  distributed  in  the  opera  and  assigned  to  cer- 
tain classes  of  singers.  Only  one  or  two  short  choruses 
had  a  place  in  the  opera ;  concerted  pieces  were  almost 
unknown.  The  opera  was  a  string  of  airs  and  duets. 
The  orchestral  accompaniment  was  slight ;  there  was  no 
attempt  to  produce  dramatic  or  picturesque  effect  by 
means  of  instruments.  The  secco  recitative  was  accom- 
panied by  detached  chords  upon  the  harpsichord  alone, 
sometimes  upon  a  violoncello. 

It  is  evident  from  the  records  that  vocal  technic  was 


ITALIAN  OPERA  IN  THE  IS™  CENTURY  109 


carried  to  a  point  that  has  never  since  been  surpassed, 
perhaps  never  reached.  This  result  was  attained  by- 
endless  patience  and  great  skill  on  the  part  of  the  sing- 
ing masters,  directed  to  a  single  end.  Italy  supplied 
the  world  with  vocalists  as  well  as  with  composers.  The 
famous  singing  schools,  such  as  that  of  Pistocchi  at 
Bologna,  produced  singers  of  every  variety,  some  re- 
nowned for  brilliancy,  some  for  "  pathetic  "  expression, 
—  all  technically  perfect.  The  world  has  never  seen  a 
more  complete  devotion  to  a  single  branch  of  art.  The 
Italian  method  became  the  law  for  Europe.  The 
great  singer  was  the  pet  of  fashionable  society,  and  his 
gains  were  fabulous.  Most  admired  of  all  were  the  male 
sopranos  and  contraltos  (evirati),  who  retained  their  boys' 
voices  in  consequence  of  a  brutal  operation,  which  was 
everywhere  contrary  to  law,  but  encouraged  by  the  thea- 
tre and  even  tolerated  in  the  church.  The  chief  male 
parts  in  the  opera  were  assigned  to  these  artificial 
sopranos.  It  is  difficult  to  obtain  any  idea  of  the  qual- 
ity of  these  voices,  for  they  have  entirely  disappeared. 
In  spite  of  the  praises  lavished  upon  them,  some  critics 
dissented,  and  it  is  probable  that  their  peculiar  tone 
would  not  now  be  enjoyed.  The  falsetto  male  soprano, 
still  heard  in  some  Italian  churches,  is  not  the  same. 

The  style  of  singing  in  the  eighteenth  century  may  be 
inferred  from  the  arias  and  from  our  knowledge  of  the 
character  of  the  opera.  Since  there  was  much  less 
variety  in  the  old  aria  than  in  that  of  the  nineteenth- 
century  opera,  the  expression  was  confined  to  a  few 
stereotyped  sentiments.  The  age  was  the  age  of  virtu- 
osity in  all  departments  of  music ;  the  aim  was  not  so 


110    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


much  the  portrayal  of  all  shades  of  human  emotion 
under  the  stress  of  dramatic  conflict,  as  the  display  of 
the  performer's  vocal  ability.  The  opera  stage  was  his 
parade  ground.  The  most  marked  sign  of  the  difference 
in  the  conceptions  of  the  singer's  function  in  the  eigh- 
teenth century  and  at  the  present  day  lies  in  the  unre- 
strained license  then  given  to  alter  the  notes  of  the  aria 
and  introduce  all  manner  of  showy  embellishments.  The 
singer  was  part  creator  with  the  composer.  Song  was 
not  rendering  prescribed  notes  in  a  prescribed  way,  but 
an  act  of  spontaneous  creation.  This  practice  was  the 
continuation  of  a  usage  common  in  the  church  far  back 
in  the  Middle  Ages.  It  was  taken  up  by  instrumental 
music.  It  was  far  along  in  the  nineteenth  century 
before  pianists  renounced  the  privilege  of  embellishing 
off-hand  the  pieces  they  played,  even  though  they  were 
the  works  of  famous  composers.  In  the  oratorio  of 
Handel's  time  the  practice  was  permitted.  It  has  flour- 
ished, although  in  a  less  degree,  in  the  Italian  opera  of 
the  nineteenth  century.  It  was  a  token  of  the  belief  of 
the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries  that  improvi- 
sation is  a  higher  art  than  the  strict  interpretative 
rendering  of  the  work  of  another. 

When  such  a  form  of  art  as  the  eighteenth-century 
Italian  opera  ceases  to  make  progress  it  must  decline. 
An  art  whose  chief  merit  is  virtuoso  display  cannot  long 
hold  its  ground.  Serious  thinkers,  such  as  Marcello  in 
Italy  and  Addison  in  England,  ridiculed  the  reigning 
operatic  conventions.  The  public  grew  weary  of  them. 
The  social  changes  brought  about  by  the  political  revo- 
lutions at  the  close  of  the  century  were  inimical  to  a 


ITALIAN  OPERA  IN  THE  18th  CENTURY  111 


form  of  amusement  patronized  by  the  aristocracy. 
Higher  intellectual  demands  gradually  brought  in  a 
nobler  form  of  dramatic  music. 

The  historic  mission  of  the  old  Italian  opera  lay  in 
the  development  of  free  melody  and  a  method  of  singing 
based  on  true  physiological  principles.  This  melody 
passed  into  instrumental  music  and  was  one  of  the  fac- 
tors concerned  in  the  production  of  the  orchestral  and 
chamber  music  of  the  great  Austrian  masters.  Many 
vocal  gems  have  survived  in  the  arias  of  the  old  Italian 
opera  composers;  the  operas  themselves,  based  on  a 
rejected  foundation,  have  utterly  disappeared. 

The  histories  of  music  give  large  space  to  this  phase  of  opera. 
Especial  attention  may  be  called  to  the  chapter  on  the  rise  of  vir- 
tuosity in  the  Oxford  History  of  Music,  vol.  iv;  Apthorp,  The 
Opera,  Past  and  Present ;  Parry,  The  Evolution  of  the  Art  of  Music, 
and  Grove's  Dictionary,  article  Singing.  See  also  chapters  in  the 
biographies  of  Handel  by  Schoelcher  and  by  Rockstro;  Jahn,  Life 
of  Mozart,  vol.  i,  chap.  7  (the  plot  of  "  Lucio  Silla,"  in  chap.  8, 
will  give  a  good  impression  of  the  character  of  the  usual  opera 
libretto) ;  Famous  Composers  and  their  Works,  series  i,  article 
Music  in  Italy ;  Edwards,  The  Prima  Donna ;  Hogarth,  Memoirs 
of  the  Musical  Drama  ;  Grove's  Dictionary,  articles  Opera,  Schools, 
Recitative,  Aria,  Caffarelli,  Farinelli,  Senesino,  Cuzzoni,  Faustina, 
Hasse.  For  the  "  laws  "  of  the  opera,  Grove's  Dictionary,  vol.  ii, 
p.  509. 

One  who  has  access  to  a  copy  of  Burney's  Present  State  of  Music 
in  France  and  Italy  will  find  interesting  first-hand  accounts  by 
an  observer  of  the  highest  competence. 

The  most  elaborate  and  brilliant  picture  of  the  eighteenth- 
century  Italian  opera,  considered  in  relation  to  the  whole  life  of 
the  time,  is  in  the  writings  of  Vernon  Lee  (Miss  Violet  Paget), 
including  The  Musical  Life,  and  Metastasio  and  the  Opera,  in  her 
fascinating  book,  Studies  of  the  Eighteenth  Century  in  Italy ;  An 
Eighteenth  Century  Singer,  in  the  Fortnightly  Review,  December, 


112     THE  STUDY  OP  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


1891 ;  and  The  Art  of  Singing,  Past  and  Present,  in  the  North 
British  Review,  vol.  lxxii.  The  student  will  know,  from  his  other 
readings,  how  to  temper  the  exuberance  that  sometimes  appears  in 
these  masterly  sketches. 

The  ideal  of  song  in  the  Italian  opera,  as  compared  with  that 
in  the  ascendant  at  the  present  day,  is  discussed  in  a  luminous 
way  by  H.  T.  Finck  in  Chopin  and  other  Musical  Essays,  article 
Italian  and  German  Vocal  Styles. 

There  are  recent  collections  of  typical  arias  from  old  Italian 
operas,  e.g.  Anthology  of  Italian  Song  in  the  Seventeenth  and  Eigh- 
teenth Centuries,  ed.  by  Parisotti,  two  vols.,  published  by  Schirmer. 
The  arias,  especially  those  of  a  florid  character,  in  Handel's  ora- 
torios are  characteristic  of  the  period. 

For  a  general  view  of  the  opera  and  the  period,  Oxford  History 
of  Music,  vol.  v,  particularly  chaps.  1-3. 


XIX 


INTRODUCTION  OF  THE  ITALIAN  DRAMATIC  FORMS 
INTO  GERMAN  RELIGIOUS  MUSIC 

With  the  development  of  the  monodic  dramatic  style 
Italy  took  the  lead  in  musical  progress,  and  the  music 
of  Europe  gradually  became  transformed  under  her  in- 
fluence. Germany  for  a  time  resisted  the  new  tendencies, 
and  when  the  first  signs  of  Italian  influence  did  appear 
it  was  in  the  field  of  religious  music,  not  opera.  Out  of 
the  alliance  of  the  Italian  solo  forms  with  old  German 
ecclesiastical  elements  proceeded  the  modern  German 
passion  music  and  cantata.  Interesting  comparisons 
may  be  drawn  between  the  effects  of  the  Italian  ideas 
upon  the  music  of  the  Catholic  and  German  Protestant 
churches.  In  the  latter,  as  in  the  former,  there  was  a 
demand  for  a  more  varied  and  individual  expression. 
But  in  the  Catholic  mass  there  was  no  blending  of  the 
Palestrina  style  and  the  new  forms  of  solo  song;  in  the 
German  Protestant  the  older  counterpoint  survived,  of 
course  in  the  new  tonality.  The  ancient  forms  and 
traditions  continued  to  receive  the  reverence  due  them. 

In  one  section  of  German  church  music  these  tradi- 
tions were  all-powerful  and  resisted  innovation.  A 
group  of  seventeenth-century  musicians  clung  to  the 
chorale  and  motet,  taking  no  account  of  the  aria,  but 
perpetuating  the  methods   of  the   Lutheran  period. 

8 


114    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


Among  the  most  prominent  of  these  conservatives 
were  Melchior  Frank  (?-1639),  Johann  Hermann 
Schein  (1586-1630),  Samuel  Scheidt  (1587-1654), 
Johann  Rosenmiiller  (d.  about  1682),  Johann  Criiger 
(1598-1662),  celebrated  for  his  beautiful  chorales, 
Andreas  Hammerschmidt  (1611-1675).  Through  their 
strength  of  character  and  devotion  to  the  musical 
ideals  of  the  heroic  age  of  the  Reformation  these  men 
did  noble  service  in  keeping  alive  the  pure  flame  of 
religious  art  amid  the  moral  desolations  of  the  Thirty 
Years'  War  (1618-1648). 

Another  group  held  in  their  hands  the  future  of  Ger- 
man church  music.  Basing  their  culture  on  the  old 
German  chorus,  organ  music  and  people's  hymn  tune, 
they  grafted  upon  these  the  Italian  melody.  They  set 
in  motion  the  effort  which  culminated  in  the  church 
works  of  J.  S.  Bach. 

The  greatest  German  musician  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  Heinrich  Schutz  (1585-1672),  is  hardly  to  be 
classed  in  either  of  these  groups.  He  was  a  pupil  of 
Giovanni  Gabrieli  at  Venice  in  1609,  and  visited  Italy 
again  in  1629.  He  was  chapel-master  at  Dresden  from 
1615,  with  a  few  interruptions,  until  his  death.  His 
works  include  passions  after  the  four  evangelists,  the 
"  Resurrection,"  the  "  Seven  Last  Words  of  the  Re- 
deemer upon  the  Cross,"  the  "  Conversion  of  Saul," 
psalms,  "  spiritual  concertos,"  symphonise  sacrse,  "  spirit- 
ual songs."  In  the  symphonise  sacrse  are  songs  for  one 
or  more  solo  voices,  with  instrumental  obligato,  in  which 
a  declamatory  recitative  style  is  used.  In  his  psalms  he 
employed  contrasting  and  combining  choral  masses  with 


ITALIAN  FORMS  IN  GERMAN  RELIGIOUS  MUSIC  115 

bands  of  instruments.  In  the  "  Seven  Words "  the 
utterances  of  Jesus  and  the  other  personages  are  given 
in  arioso  recitative,  rising  at  times  to  pronounced  melody. 
In  the  dramatic  religious  works  the  vocal  solo,  the  ac- 
companiment and  the  chorus  are  used  with  caution, 
occasionally  producing  striking  effects  of  expression. 
In  the  passions  Schiitz  abandons  instruments,  and  the 
ancient  Gregorian  tonality  is  preserved  throughout.  In 
all  his  works  there  is  a  conflict  between  the  ancient  sys- 
tem and  his  sympathies  with  a  dawning  epoch.  They 
are  not,  however,  to  be  considered  as  steps  in  the  line 
of  progress  that  led  to  Bach  and  Handel.  The  latter 
owed  nothing  to  Schiitz  and  were  probably  unacquainted 
with  his  works. 

The  most  satisfactory  account  of  Schiitz  in  English  is  in  the 
Oxford  History  of  Music,  vol.  iii,  chap.  10.  See  also  Dickinson, 
Music  in  the  History  of  the  Western  Church,  chap.  8 ;  Grove's 
Dictionary,  articles  Schiitz,  vol.  iv,  pp.  45  and  787;  references  to 
Schiitz  in  Spitta's  Johann  Sebastian  Bach. 

The  development  of  the  German  passion  should  next 
be  taken  up.  The  passion  music  is  the  outgrowth  of  the 
mediaeval  custom  of  representing  the  trial  and  death  of 
Christ,  sometimes  as  an  actual  reproduction  upon  the 
stage  (a  custom  that  still  survives  in  Oberammergau  in 
Bavaria,  and  elsewhere),  also  as  a  recitation  in  musical 
tone  as  a  feature  of  the  liturgy  in  Holy  Week.  The 
liturgical  musical  recitation  has  taken  three  forms,  viz. 
the  chanted,  the  motet  and  the  oratorio  passion.  The 
first  originated  in  the  period  of  the  supremacy  of  the 
Gregorian  chant,  one  clergyman  intoning  the  words  of 
the  evangelist,  another  those  of  Christ,  a  third  those  of 


116    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


Peter,  Pilate  and  others,  while  the  ejaculations  of  the 
disciples,  mob  and  priests  were  chanted  by  a  small  group 
of  singers.  All  was  rendered  in  the  simpler  syllabic 
form  of  the  Plain  Song.  In  the  motet  passion,  which 
grew  up  under  the  perfected  choral  art  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  everything  was  sung  in  chorus,  including  the 
sayings  of  the  single  personages.  The  rise  of  the  Italian 
solo  and  instrumental  art  created  the  oratorio  form,  which 
consisted  of  choruses,  arias,  recitatives  and  orchestral  and 
organ  accompaniment.  For  a  time  the  three  forms 
flourished  side  by  side,  but  the  first  two  soon  disap- 
peared, except  that  the  original  chanted  form  still  sur- 
vived in  the  nineteenth  century  in  the  pope's  chapel  at 
Home.  In  the  oratorio  passion  of  the  seventeenth  and 
eighteenth  centuries,  the  Bible  text  was  reinforced  by 
hymns,  which  in  the  form  of  arias  and  choruses  were 
sung  by  imaginary  spectators,  and  by  chorales  taken 
from  the  church  song  books,  and  at  first  sung  by  the 
congregation,  but  in  Bach's  time  by  the  choir  alone. 

The  passion  music  was  very  extensively  cultivated  in 
Germany  in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries. 
Great  attention  was  given  to  it  at  Hamburg  by  the  opera 
composers,  Keiser,  Telemann  and  Mattheson.  With 
them  the  passion  declined,  the  chorus  was  neglected  for 
the  aria,  original  texts  often  took  the  place  of  the  Gos- 
pel story,  pious  sentimentality  and  extravagance  weak- 
ened the  traditional  dignity  of  the  passion  music.  In 
church  music  generally  there  was  a  relaxation  of  the  old 
strict  standards,  due  to  formality  and  indifference  in 
the  religious  life,  and  the  growing  vogue  of  the  shallow 
Italian  opera. 


ITALIAN  FORMS  IN  GERMAN  RELIGIOUS  MUSIC  117 


The  student  will  note  the  distinction  between  passion 
music  and  oratorio  proper,  —  the  former  having  a  place  in 
the  church  liturgy,  while  the  latter  is  not  church  music. 

Spitta  gives  a  very  full  history  and  analysis  of  the  passion 
music  in  his  Johann  Sebastian  Bach.  See  also  Oxford  History  of 
Music,  vol.  iii ;  Dickinson,  Music  in  the  History  of  the  Western 
Church,  chap.  8;  Grove's  Dictionary,  article  Passion  Music;  Mees, 
Choirs  and  Choral  Music. 

Not  less  important  than  the  passion  music  among  the 
new  forms  produced  by  the  alliance  between  the  old 
German  styles  and  the  new  Italian  was  the  cantata.  The 
name  "cantata"  appears  first  in  Italy  about  1600,  and 
was  originally  applied  to  a  musical  recitation  by  a  single 
person,  without  action,  accompanied  by  a  single  instru- 
ment. It  consisted  of  an  aria,  or  a  recitative  and  aria, 
sometimes  of  two  recitatives  and  two  arias.  This  simple 
design  was  afterwards  expanded  into  a  work  in  several 
movements,  with  both  choruses  and  solos.  Religious 
texts  were  sometimes  employed  and  thus  the  church 
cantata  came  into  the  art  current.  The  religious  cantata 
was  eagerly  taken  up  by  the  composers  of  the  German 
Protestant  church,  and  became  a  feature  in  the  regular 
order  of  worship.  In  the  seventeenth  century  the  Ger- 
man church  cantata  usually  consisted  of  an  instrumental 
introduction,  one  or  two  choruses,  several  solo  songs 
and  a  chorale.  The  words  consisted  of  Bible  verses  and 
hymns.  In  the  complete  development  of  the  church 
cantata  in  the  eighteenth  century,  the  Italian  recitative 
and  aria  forms  were  added,  and  the  chorus  and  organ 
accompaniment  were  carried  to  their  full  power.  The 
church  cantata  also  gave  prominence  to  melodies  taken 


118    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 

from  the  people's  chorale,  and  thus  connected  itself 
closely  with  the  order  for  the  day,  effecting  a  union  also 
between  the  choir  song  and  the  office  of  praise  assigned 
to  the  congregation.  The  cantata  is  on  a  larger  scale 
than  an  anthem,  to  which  it  bears  some  resemblance  in 
its  liturgical  purpose. 

Spitta  in  his  Johann  Sebastian  Back  is  very  full  on  the  German 
church  cantata.  See  also  the  Oxford  History  of  Music,  vol.  iv, 
chap.  8;  Dickinson,  Music  in  the  History  of  the  Western  Church, 
chap.  8. 


XX 


JOHANN  SEBASTIAN  BACH,  1685-1750 

PRINCIPAL  WORKS.  — Vocal:  cantatas,  religious 
and  secular ;  chorales  ;  masses  and  other  works  with 
Latin  texts  ;  motets  ;  oratorios  ;  passion  settings  ;  songs. 

Instrumental:  compositions  for  clavier  solo;  clavier 
with  other  instruments ;  organ  ;  violin  solo  ;  violin  with 
other  instruments  ;  flute  ;  violoncello  ;  viol  da  gamba  ; 
other  minor  instruments ;  orchestra. 

In  order  that  the  full  significance  of  Bach  may  be 
understood  he  must  be  studied  with  German  nationality 
and  German  religious  history  as  a  background.  He  was 
the  representative  German  artist  of  his  age ;  some  of  the 
most  steadfast  traits  of  Teutonic  character,  as  revealed 
in  the  contribution  of  Germany  to  modern  culture,  are 
plainly  reflected  in  his  life  and  works.  His  zeal  in  the 
service  of  the  Evangelical  church  was  kindred  to  that 
of  Luther  in  an  age  far  different  from  that  of  Luther. 
His  conscious  aim  was  to  restore  to  German  church 
music  the  supremacy  of  its  noblest  traditions.  On  the 
technical  side  he  carried  to  the  highest  possible  point 
the  freer  polyphony  based  on  modern  harmonic  relations 
and  the  modern  sectional  forms,  which  had  taken  the 
place  of  the  old  modal  counterpoint.  He  united  with  it 
the  Italian  vocal  monody  (aria  and  recitative)  for  the 


120    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


sake  of  more  individual  expression.  He  also  urged 
onward  the  rising  instrumental  movement,  carrying  to 
their  consummation  the  forms  (fugue,  suite,  chorale, 
prelude,  etc.)  which  preceded  the  higher  development 
of  the  sonata. 

The  universal  reverence  in  which  Bach  is  now  held 
is  due  not  merely  to  his  unsurpassed  science,  but  also  to 
the  intellectual  force  and  emotional  depth  that  lie  in  his 
works.  Superior  to  all  other  moderns  in  workmanship, 
he  still  remains  one  of  the  supreme  masters  of  expression. 
The  revival  of  the  study  of  Bach  in  the  nineteenth 
century  has  been  a  conspicuous  influence  in  moulding 
both  the  musical  appreciation  and  the  musical  compo- 
sition of  the  present  age. 

The  student  must  look  for  the  true  basis  of  Bach's 
style  in  the  Lutheran  chorale  and  in  German  organ 
music.  The  Italian  melodic  forms  were  adopted  not  as 
decoration,  certainly  not  as  sufficient  in  themselves  for 
the  purposes  for  which  he  used  them,  but  were  woven 
into  the  texture  of  his  work,  and  recast  under  the  shap- 
ing influence  of  his  profound  German  science. 

Bach  must  be  studied  primarily  as  a  church  composer. 
Church  music  was  the  only  form  of  German  art  that 
showed  any  vitality  in  his  day.  The  traditions  of 
German  religious  music  survived  among  the  common 
people  and  the  old-school  cantors  and  organists.  His 
secular  works,  numerous  and  valuable  as  they  are,  were 
hardly  more  than  a  diversion  from  the  main  purpose  of 
his  life.  The  organ  style  and  the  organ  spirit  are  all- 
pervasive.  The  modern  discrimination  of  styles  among 
different  instruments  and  between  vocal  and  instrumental 


JO H ANN  SEBASTIAN  BACH,  1685-1750  121 


music  was  only  faintly  suggested  in  the  school  to  which 
he  belonged.  He  was  by  no  means  an  isolated  phenome- 
non. His  forms  and  technical  methods  were  shared  by  a 
host  of  other  musicians  from  whom  he  differed  in  degree, 
not  in  kind.  His  forms  (fugue,  prelude,  toccata,  suite, 
concerto,  cantata,  motet,  passion,  etc.)  had  been  partly 
developed  and  their  station  in  art  fixed  before  he 
appeared.  He  systematized,  broadened  and  refined 
them,  and  raised  them  to  such  a  pitch  of  perfection  that 
there  has  been  no  further  progress  upon  their  lines  since 
his  day.  After  him  music  could  only  develop  in  a 
direction  and  upon  principles  which  he  had  disregarded. 

The  Bach  family  was  the  most  musical  known  to 
history.  Conspicuous  musical  talent  was  shown  in  six 
generations,  thirty-seven  members  holding  prominent 
official  positions.  No  other  art  can  show  a  similar 
example  of  transmitted  ability.  Piety  and  thrift  were 
always  characteristic  of  this  family.  They  belonged  to 
the  peasant  class,  and  their  musical  activity  was  pursued 
in  connection  with  the  churches  and  town  bands.  J.  S. 
Bach  was  thus  by  inheritance  as  well  as  circumstances  a 
man  of  the  people.  He  totally  ignored  the  opera.  He 
was  never  subject  to  aristocratic  patronage.  The  deep 
root  which  he  struck  into  the  life  of  the  common  people 
must  be  reckoned  as  one  source  of  his  power. 

He  was  born  at  Eisenach,  March  21,  1685  ;  studied  as 
a  boy  at  Ohrdruf  and  Luneberg;  was  trained  as  an 
organist;  violinist  at  the  ducal  court  of  Weimar  in 
1703 ;  organist  and  choir  director  at  Arnstadt,  Muhlhau- 
sen,  Weimar  and  Anhalt-Coethen  from  1703  to  1723; 
called  to  Leipzig  in  1723  as  cantor  of  the  Thomas 


122    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


school  and  director  of  music  at  the  Thomas  and  Nicholai 
churches,  where  he  remained  until  the  end  of  his  life. 

The  preeminent  authority  on  the  life  and  works  of  Bach  is 
Spitta's  Johann  Sebastian  Bach,  which  has  been  translated  into 
English.  It  is  not  only  a  minute  and  exhaustive  study  of  Bach's 
works  from  every  point  of  view,  but  also  a  storehouse  of  informa- 
tion in  regard  to  the  musical  practice  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
from  which  Bach's  forms  and  methods  were  drawn.  It  is  some- 
what diffuse  and  confused  in  arrangement,  and  is  more  useful  as  a 
work  for  consultation  than  for  continuous  reading.  It  is  indis- 
pensable to  one  who  wishes  to  study  Bach  thoroughly.  Among 
the  more  condensed  biographies,  more  narrative  and  descriptive 
than  critical,  the  first  place  should  be  given  to  Bach  by  C.  F. 
Abdy  Williams  (The  Master  Musicians  series).  This  book  con- 
tains a  catalogue  of  Bach's  works,  a  bibliography  and  glossary. 
The  best  of  the  brief  summaries  of  Bach's  career  is  the  article  by 
Spitta  in  Famous  Composers  and  their  Works,  series  i. 

Bach  is  best  known  to  the  general  musical  public  as  a 
composer  for  the  organ.  In  this  department  he  towers  so 
far  above  all  other  masters  that  no  one  is  worthy  to  be 
mentioned  even  as  second  to  him.  His  organ  pieces, 
moreover,  afford  the  clue  to  his  whole  art.  The  organ 
works  must  also  be  studied  in  view  of  the  fact  that  they 
were  indigenous  to  the  Evangelical  church,  distinctly 
adding  to  the  characteristic  impression  produced  by  the 
liturgy,  the  dogmatic  teaching  and  the  historic  tradi- 
tion. In  the  chorale  preludes  his  organ  music  comes 
into  vital  connection  with  the  congregational  song.  The 
love  of  virtuoso  display  is  often  evident  in  the  fugues, 
preludes,  fantasies  and  toccatas,  but  this  is  not  of  a  sort 
that  belies  their  churchly  function. 

The  development  of  the  German  art  of  organ  playing 
may  be  traced  from  about  the  year  1600,  when  the  organ 


JOHANN  SEBASTIAN  BACH,  1685-1750  123 


took  the  place  of  the  choir  in  accompanying  the  people's 
hymn.  The  two  main  currents  along  which  organ 
music  advanced  were  the  fugue  and  the  chorale  prelude. 
The  general  line  of  progress  is  from  Frescobaldi  early  in 
the  seventeenth  century  through  Sweelinck,  Scheidt, 
Froberger,  Pachelbel,  Bohm,  Buxtehude  and  others  to 
Bach,  who  completed  the  tendency. 

Representative  preludes,  fugues,  toccatas  and  organ 
sonatas  by  Bach  should  be  analyzed.  The  student  will 
observe  their  variety  of  construction,  illustrating  every 
existing  contrapuntal  device,  and  particularly  their  wide 
range  of  mood.  Frequent  departures  from  the  strict 
form  will  be  found  in  the  fugues ;  some  have  been  called 
"  fantasies  in  the  form  of  fugues." 

Especial  attention  should  be  given  to  the  chorale  pre- 
ludes (Vorspiele),  on  account  of  the  prominent  place 
they  hold  in  Bach's  culture  and  in  the  musical  service 
of  the  Evangelical  church.  The  rise  of  the  custom  of 
playing  variations  on  hymn  tunes  is  significant  as  mark- 
ing the  connection  between  the  devotional  song  of  the 
people  and  artistic  instrumental  music.  Free  improvi- 
sation, in  which  the  organist's  art  at  this  period  mainly 
consisted,  took  this  universal  form.  Distinction  must 
be  made  between  the  more  condensed  form  of  chorale 
treatment  as  an  accompaniment  to  the  congregation,  and 
the  larger,  bolder  form  employed  in  free  organ  perform- 
ance. The  greater  or  less  truth  of  expression  in  these 
pieces  of  Bach  may  be  judged  by  comparing  them  with 
the  words  of  the  hymns  with  which  they  are  associated. 

The  fugue,  as  we  find  it  in  its  final  development  in 
the  time  of  Bach,  may  be  traced  back  to  the  indefinite 


124    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


forms  that  appeared  in  the  birthtime  of  modern  instru- 
mental music  in  Italy  about  1600.  Compositions  known 
by  various  names,  such  as  ricercare  and  canzona,  were  the 
parents  of  the  modern  fugue.  In  them  the  parts  imitated 
each  other  in  canonic  fashion,  but  without  any  positive 
principle  of  order.  The  essence  of  the  completed  fugue 
consists  in  the  answer  to  the  subject  at  the  interval  of 
the  fifth  and  a  systematic  succession  of  repetitions  of 
subject  and  counter-subject,  the  regular  introduction 
of  related  keys,  in  fact  a  logically  organized  sectional 
plan  based  on  subject,  answer  and  counter-subject,  all 
revolving  around  the  pivotal  points  of  tonic  and  domi- 
nant and  relative  majors  and  minors.  In  the  development 
of  the  fugue  the  devices  on  which  contrapuntal  variety 
depends  may  be  employed  —  augmentations,  diminutions, 
inversions,  retrogradations,  stretti  —  with  interrupting 
episodes  either  entirely  free  or  based  on  motives  taken 
from  subject  or  counter-subject.  The  fundamental 
scheme  of  modern  form  is  found  in  the  fugue  as  well 
as  in  the  sonata,  viz.  the  exposition  in  a  certain  key, 
modulations  through  related  keys,  and  the  return  to  the 
principal  tonality.  The  modern  fugue,  therefore,  is  the 
moulding  of  the  indefinite  mediaeval  contrapuntal  forms 
into  an  organized  scheme  of  design  under  the  shaping 
force  of  the  later  tonal  system  and  the  idea  of  thematic 
departure  and  return. 

The  text  books  of  fugue  are  so  numerous  that  none  need  be 
specified  here.  A  very  clear  popular  discussion  of  the  fugue  may 
be  found  in  the  article  on  musical  forms  by  L.  C.  Elson  in  Famous 
Composers  and  their  Works,  series  ii.  See  also  Lavignac,  Music 
and  Musicians. 

For  the  works  of  Bach's  predecessors  in  the  organ  field  and  his 


JOHANN  SEBASTIAN  BACH,  1685-1750  125 


indebtedness  to  them  :  Spitta,  Johann  Sebastian  Bach ;  Oxford  His- 
tory of  Music,  vol.  iii,  chap.  3 ;  Pirro,  Johann  Sebastian  Bach,  the 
Organist,  trans,  by  Goodrich.  Musical  examples  are  given  in  Rit- 
ter's  Zur  Geschichte  des  Orgelspiels.  Others  may  be  found  in  the 
catalogues  of  publishers  of  the  present  day. 

As  an  aid  to  the  critical  study  of  Bach's  organ  works :  Spitta, 
Johann  Sebastian  Bach  ;  Pirro,  Johann  Sebastian  Bach,  the  Organist ; 
Oxford  History  of  Music,  vol.  iv,  The  Age  of  Bach  and  Handel  ; 
Statham.  My  Thoughts  on  Music  and  Musicians. 

Pirro  gives  the  specifications  of  the  principal  organs  which  Bach 
used,  and  discusses  thoroughly  the  somewhat  obscure  question  of 
his  methods  of  registration.  For  a  general  view  of  the  nature  and 
effect  of  Bach's  organ  music  see  Parry,  The  Evolution  of  the  Art  of 
Music,  and  Dickinson,  Music  in  the  History  of  the  Western  Church. 

Much  the  larger  portion  of  Bach's  work  as  a  com- 
poser consists  of  vocal  compositions  for  the  church,  — 
cantatas,  passions,  masses,  etc.  There  will  be  discovered 
a  marked  correspondence  in  technical  structure  between 
these  and  the  organ  compositions.  The  recitative  and 
aria  take  a  prominent  place.  The  recitative  attains  in 
Bach's  hands  a  melodiousness  and  a  depth  of  expression 
that  are  not  found  in  the  work  of  any  other  composer 
of  the  eighteenth  centur}-.  The  da  capo  aria,  adopted 
from  Italian  dramatic  music,  takes  on  an  altogether  new 
quality.  Bach's  characteristic  polyphonic  manner  of 
writing  is  seen  in  the  relationship  of  the  accompaniment 
to  the  voice  part  in  his  arias,  where  the  two  parts  are 
often  of  equal  rank  as  components  of  a  contrapuntal 
scheme.  The  accompaniment  may  carry  the  leading 
melody,  while  the  voice  part  concertizes  with  it.  This 
method  often  results  in  dryness  and  pedantry.  It  is 
not  a  true  vocal  method  of  writing.  So  also  the  vocal 
parts  in  his  choruses  often  suggest  instruments  rather 


126    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


than  voices.  One  who  compares  Bach's  chorus  writing 
with  Handel's  will  observe  the  austere  ecclesiastical 
character  that  prevails  in  the  former  as  compared  with 
the  freedom  and  variety  of  the  latter.  This  distinction 
appears  as  a  necessary  consequence  of  the  fact  that 
Bach's  choral  works  belong  to  the  church,  while  Han- 
del's have  all  the  freedom  of  the  concert  platform. 
Bach  is  lyric,  Handel  lyric,  epic  and  dramatic. 

The  cantatas  (two  hundred  and  ninety-seven  in  num- 
ber) form  the  largest  single  group  among  Bach's  works. 
The  large  number  of  cantatas  which  Bach  produced  was 
due  to  the  necessity  of  providing  such  works  upon  stated 
days  for  the  use  of  the  choir.  No  other  works  show  so 
amply  the  range  and  versatility  of  Bach's  powers.  Many 
of  them  are  notable  for  the  prominent  place  held  in  them 
by  the  chorale,  the  lines  of  the  folk  tunes  being  treated 
in  a  manner  analogous  to  that  employed  in  the  organ 
chorale  prelude.  This  feature  is  of  prime  importance 
in  studying  the  idea  of  the  church  cantata  as  realized 
by  Bach  in  its  relation  to  popular  worship.  Bach's 
cantatas  reflect  every  shade  of  devotional  feeling,  and 
form  the  most  remarkable  body  of  ecclesiastical  works 
ever  produced  by  a  single  musician. 

A  few  representative  cantatas  should  first  be  studied.  Peters' 
edition  is  inexpensive.  "Du  Hirte  Israels"  (one  of  the  simplest), 
"  Gottes  Zeit,"  "  Ich  hatte  viel  Bekiimmerniss  "  and  "  Ein'  feste 
Burg  "  are  among  those  most  widely  known.  For  the  history  of 
the  cantata,  and  analyses  and  discussions  of  the  cantatas  of  Bach, 
Spitta's  biography  is  the  most  complete.  See  also  Oxford  History 
of  Music,  vol.  iii,  chap.  10,  and  vol.  iv,  chap.  2  ;  Williams,  Bach; 
Stathain,  My  Thoughts  on  Music  and  Musicians  (comparison  of  Bach 
and  Handel  as  chorus  writers)  ;  Parry,  The  Evolution  of  the  Art  of 


JOIIANN  SEBASTIAN  BACH,  1685-1750  127 


Music,  chap.  7;  Dickinson,  Music  in  the  History  of  the  Western 
Church  ;  Famous  Composers  and  their  Works,  series  i,  article  Bach. 

Among  the  larger  works  of  Bach  the  "Passion  ac- 
cording to  St.  Matthew  "  has  done  most  to  extend  his 
fame.  This  work  marks  the  completion  of  the  develop- 
ment of  the  passion  as  an  art  form  (chap.  xix).  It 
is  a  simpler  work  than  the  "  Mass  in  B  minor,"  simpler 
even  than  many  of  the  cantatas.  Only  in  one  or  two 
choruses  does  Bach  give  free  swing  to  his  full  power  as 
a  contrapuntist.  In  poignancy  of  pathos  and  beauty  of 
melody  it  is  unequalled  by  any  other  work  of  Bach.  It 
is  the  most  touching  portrayal  in  musical  art  of  the 
feeling  of  a  devout  believer  contemplating  the  suffering 
and  death  of  Christ.  In  this  respect  it  is  dramatic,  the 
church  bringing  the  events  of  the  passion  before  the 
mind  by  suggestion,  thus  following  the  ancient  Catholic 
liturgic  usage.  It  deals,  therefore,  with  the  human  ele- 
ment in  Christ,  ignoring  all  anticipation  of  his  triumph, 
thus  remaining  true  to  the  original  conception  of  the 
office  proper  to  Good  Friday.  In  this  particular  it  may 
be  contrasted  with  Handel's  "  Messiah,"  which  is  not  li- 
turgical, and  deals  with  Christ's  triumph  and  glorifica- 
tion. In  studying  Bach's  "  St.  Matthew  Passion  "  we 
must  explain  its  form  by  taking  into  account  these  litur- 
gic relations.  The  character  of  its  choruses,  recitatives, 
arias  and  accompaniment  must  be  noted,  the  pertinence 
of  the  introduction  of  chorales  (observe  the  different  ways 
of  harmonizing  the  same  melody  in  the  case  of  the  old 
"  passion  chorale  "),  the  manner  of  discriminating  Jesus 
from  the  other  characters,  the  commingling  of  dramatic, 
epic  and  lyric  elements,  and  particularly  the  extraor- 


128    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MtlSlC 


dinary  skill  with  which  Bach  contrives  to  maintain  va- 
riety and  sustain  interest  in  a  long  work  that  is  entirely 
pervaded  with  a  single  depressing  mood.  An  important 
fact  in  the  history  of  musical  taste  in  the  nineteenth 
century  is  the  revival  of  this  great  work  under  the 
direction  of  Mendelssohn  at  Berlin  in  1829,  after  a 
silence  of  eighty-nine  years. 

Spitta,  Johann  Sebastian  Bach,  gives  an  elaborate  analysis  of  the 
"St.  Matthew  Passion."  See  also  Famous  Composers  and  their 
Works,  series  i,  article  Bach;  Oxford  History  of  Music,  vol.  iv, 
chap.  3 ;  Grove's  Dictionary,  article  Passion  ;  Parry,  The  Evolution 
of  the  Art  of  Music  ;  Upton,  The  Standard  Oratorios. 

Accounts  of  the  performance  of  Bach's  "  St.  Matthew  Passion  " 
at  Berlin  in  1829  may  be  found  in  Hensel's  The  Mendelssohn  Family, 
vol.  i,  pp.  169-73,  and  Devrient's  My  Recollections  of  Mendelssohn. 

The  work  that  stands  at  the  summit  of  Bach's  crea- 
tions as  regards  vastness  of  scale,  intellectual  grasp  and 
majestic  power  is  the  "Mass  in  B  minor."  One  who 
knows  it  thoroughly  has  sounded  the  depths  of  Bach. 
Its  length  and  difficulty  prevent  its  employment  as  a 
service  mass,  and  it  has  never  been  used  as  such.  In 
form  it  is  more  like  a  huge  cantata.  With  the  possible 
exception  of  Beethoven's  "  Mass  in  D,"  it  is  the  grand- 
est piece  of  church  music  in  existence.  "  The  whole  of 
the  choral  numbers  have  a  beauty  of  material,  a  splendor 
of  intricate  treatment,  and  a  propriety  in  regard  to  illus- 
trating the  words,  that  are  surpassed  in  no  music  of 
earlier  or  later  date  "  (Maitland). 

Spitta,  Johann  Sebastian  Bach  ;  Oxford  History  of  Music,  vol.  ir. 


JOIIANN  SEBASTIAN  BACH,  1G85-1750  129 


Other  choral  works  of  importance  are  the  "  Passion 
according  to  St.  John,"  the  "  Christmas  Oratorio,"  the 
"  Magnificat "  and  the  motets. 

The  study  of  Bach's  choral  works  includes  the  orchestration  of 
his  age  and  the  question  of  "additional  accompaniments, "  for 
which  see  chap.  xxi. 

At  the  head  of  Bach's  clavier  works  stands  the 
"  Well-tempered  Clavichord."  No  better  discipline  in 
musical  appreciation  can  be  suggested  than  a  thorough 
inquiry  into  the  reasons  of  the  unrivalled  fame  of  this 
work.  It  is  a  compendium  of  Bach's  whole  art.  The 
name  comes  from  the  new  method  of  tuning,  adopted 
by  Bach,  by  which  all  the  major  and  minor  keys  could 
be  used  and  modulation  smoothly  effected  into  keys  the 
most  remote.  The  fugues  have  excited  the  wondering 
admiration  of  musicians  of  every  nation  and  school,  not 
only  for  their  unrivalled  perfection  in  structure,  but  also 
as  illustrations  of  the  possibilities  of  variety  and  beauty 
that  lie  in  this  abstruse  form.  The  preludes  also  reveal 
powers  in  clavier  music  which  no  one  before  Bach  had 
suspected.  Observe  the  pathos  —  a  new  note  in  instru- 
mental music  —  in  the  preludes  in  E  flat  minor  and  B 
flat  minor  in  the  first  book,  and  the  melodious  charm  of 
many  others. 

rFor  discussions  of  the  work  as  a  whole:  Spitta's  biography; 
Parry,  The  Evolution  of  the  Art  of  Music;  Oxford  History  of  Music, 
vol.  iv;  Statham,  My  Thoughts  on  Music  and  Musicians.  There 
are  many  good  editions.  In  Peters'  publication  KrolPs  edition 
should  be  used,  not  Czerny's.  Bischoff  (Steingraber  edition)  gives 
all  the  variants  in  the  different  MS.  and  early  editions.  Busoni's 
edition  (not  complete)  analyzes  the  preludes  and  fugues.  Rie- 

9 


130    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


mann's  analysis  (Augener's  edition)  is  also  to  be  recommended. 
All  the  text  books  on  fugue  employ  Bach's  works  as  illustrations. 

Conspicuous  also  among  Bach's  works  for  clavier  are 
the  "  Chromatic  Fantasie  and  Fugue  "  and  the  "  Italian 
Concerto."  The  "  Inventions  "  are  standard  educational 
works.  The  suites  and  partitas  show  another  side  of 
Bach's  genius.  They  are  likewise  perfect  in  style  and 
have  had  no  successors  that  rival  them. 

Spitta's  biography;  the  admirable  articles  on  Suite  and  Form 
(Parry)  in  Grove's  Dictionary;  Bie,  History  of  the  Pianoforte  and 
Pianoforte  Players  (very  valuable)  ;  Weitzmann,  History  of  Piano- 
forte Playing;  Steinert,  The  Steinert  Collection  of  Keyed  and 
Stringed  Instruments ;  Henderson,  How  Music  Developed  ;  Hender- 
son, Preludes  and  Studies :  Evolution  of  Pianoforte  Music  (Bach's 
method  of  fingering). 

For  "equal  temperament":  Sedley  Taylor,  Sound  and  Music, 
chap,  x;  Spitta,  Johann  Sebastian  Bach,  vol.  i,  pp.  137,  138;  vol. 
ii,  pp.  41,  42  ;  Parry,  The  Evolution  of  the  Art  of  Music.  Very 
elaborate  discussion  in  Grove's  Dictionary,  article  Temperament. 

The  works  for  orchestra,  and  for  violin  solo,  complete 
the  subject.  The  latter  include  some  of  Bach's  most 
masterly  and  beautiful  writing.  Especial  attention  is 
called  to  the  celebrated  "  Chaconne  "  for  violin  alone. 

Spitta,  Johann  Sebastian  Bach;  Oxford  History  of  Music,  vol.  ir. 


XXI 


GEORGE  FREDERICK  HANDEL,  1685-1759 

PRINCIPAL  WORKS.  — Vocal:  19  English  ora- 
torios ;  2  Italian  oratorios ;  2  German  passions ;  5  Te 
Deums ;  6  psalms ;  20  anthems;  Jfl  Italian  operas;  3 
German  operas;  2  English  serenatas  ;  4  odes  ;  24  cham- 
ber duets  ;  94-  cantatas. 

Instrumental:  concerti  grossi ;  organ  concertos;  so- 
natas ;  "  Water  Music "  ;  suites^  pieces  and  fugues  for 
harpsichord. 

Handel  was  born  at  Halle  ;  studied  under  a  local  or- 
ganist, Zachau ;  became  an  accomplished  contrapuntist, 
violin,  organ  and  clavier  player  at  the  age  of  eighteen. 
He  devoted  himself,  after  some  uncertain  experiments, 
to  the  Italian  forms  of  music,  and  entered  the  theatre 
orchestra  at  Hamburg  in  1703,  where  he  wrote  four 
operas  and  a  passion.  He  went  to  Italy  in  1706  and 
wrote  several  successful  operas.  He  was  appointed 
chapel-master  to  the  elector  of  Hannover  in  1709.  He 
went  to  London  and  produced  an  opera,  "  Rinaldo,"  in 
1710 ;  and  took  up  a  permanent  abode  in  London  in 
1712.  He  was  chapel-master  to  the  duke  of  Chandos  at 
Cannons,  1718-21,  and  produced  "Esther,"  "Acis  and 
Galatea  "  and  the  Chandos  anthems.  His  varied  career 
as  opera  manager  and  composer  in  London  lasted  from 


132    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


1720  to  about  1740.  He  gradually  transferred  his  atten- 
tion from  opera  to  oratorio,  and  produced  a  series  of  ora- 
torios on  an  imposing  scale,  beginning  with  "  Athaliah  " 
and  "  Deborah  "  in  1733,  and  ending  with  "  Jephtha  "  in 
1751.  After  long  conflicts  with  envious  opponents  and 
experiencing  numerous  disasters  he  lived  to  see  detraction 
silenced  and  his  fame  secure. 

The  principal  English  biographies  are  those  by  Schoelcher  (a 
rather  weak  and  shapeless  work,  published  in  1857),  Rockstro  and 
Williams.  The  two  latter  are  scholarly  and  exact,  and  may  be 
trusted  for  details.  They  are  scanty  in  criticism  and  lack  true  his- 
torical perspective.  More  concise  biographies  by  Mrs.  J.  Marshall 
{Great  Musicians  series);  Naumann,  History  of  Music;  Grove's 
Dictionary,  article  Handel,  and  Famous  Composers  and  their  Works, 
series  i,  article  Handel.  The  latter,  by  Spitta,  is  an  excellent 
critical  summary.  For  catalogue  and  dates  of  works  see  Rock- 
stro's  Life  of  George  Frederick  Handel,  appendix. 

An  edition  of  the  complete  works  of  Handel  —  supervised  by 
Chrysander  —  has  been  published  by  Breitkopf  &  Haertel,  Leipzig. 

The  significance  of  Handel  to  the  modern  world  lies 
almost  wholly  in  his  oratorios.  His  many  operas  have 
shared  the  fate  of  the  school  to  which  they  belonged. 
A  few  of  his  church  works  and  instrumental  pieces  are 
occasionally  heard. 

Italian  opera  made  its  appearance  in  England  as  early 
as  1707.  It  would  be  a  matter  of  interest  at  this  point 
to  look  into  the  attempts  in  the  seventeenth  century  to 
develop  an  English  school  of  opera.  The  basis  of  this 
movement  was  the  form  of  aristocratic  entertainment 
called  the  masque,  which  flourished  in  England  in  the 
sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  and  to  which  many 
noted  poets  —  such  as  Ben  Jonson,  Beaumont,  Chap- 


GEORGE  FREDERICK  HANDEL,  1685-1759  133 


man,  Daniel  and  Milton  —  devoted  attention.  It  would 
seem  that  here  was  the  same  opportunity  for  develop- 
ing a  school  of  English  opera  out  of  the  masque  that 
there  was  in  France,  when  Lully  transformed  the  court 
ballet  into  opera.  In  fact  Henry  Purcell  (1658-1695) 
seemed  to  possess  both  genius  and  inclination  for  such  a 
work,  but  his  early  death  found  no  one  competent  to 
assume  the  task,  and  no  national  demand  existed  ca- 
pable of  making  head  against  the  fashionable  Italian 
entertainment. 

For  the  English  masque:  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  article  Drama ; 
Ward,  History  of  English  Dramatic  Literature. 

Upon  the  state  of  music  in  England  before  the  coming  of  Handel 
vol.  iii  of  the  Oxford  History  of  Music  (Parry)  is  especially  full  and 
instructive,  particularly  on  the  genius  of  Purcell.  See  also  Cum- 
mings,  Henry  Purcell  {Great  Musicians  series);  Grove's  Dictionary, 
articles  Opera,  Purcell;  Runciman,  Old  Scores  and  New  Readings, 
chapter  on  Purcell. 

As  an  opera  composer  Handel  belongs  wholly  to  the 
eighteenth-century  Italian  school.  There  is  no  trace  of 
a  reform  purpose  in  his  stage  works.  All  that  has 
been  already  learned  concerning  the  Italian  opera  seria 
of  the  eighteenth  century  (chap,  xviii)  will  apply  to 
Handel's  operas.  Opinions  differ  upon  the  question 
whether  Handel's  operas  on  the  whole  were  superior 
to  those  of  the  best  of  his  contemporaries.  His  operas 
have  vanished  forever  from  the  stage.  Separate  arias 
exist  in  modern  publications ;  many  of  them  are  heard 
to-day  upon  the  concert  stage  and  are  well  worth  study. 
The  great  majority  of  Handel's  opera  songs  are  conven- 
tional and  lack  characteristic  expression.    As  in  Italy, 


134     THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 

France  and  Germany,  so  in  England,  the  eighteenth- 
century  opera  throws  interesting  side-lights  upon  the 
tastes  and  habits  of  fashionable  society  in  that  period. 

For  Handel's  operas  and  experience  as  theatre  manager:  the 
biographies;  Oxford  History  of  Music,  vol.  iv;  Hogarth,  Memoirs 
of  the  Musical  Drama;  Grove's  Dictionary,  article  Opera  ;  Nau- 
mann,  History  of  Music  ;  Famous  Composers  and  their  Works,  series 
i,  article  Handel ;  Statham,  My  Thoughts  on  Music  and  Musicians ; 
Runciman,  Old  Scores  and  New  Readings.  Among  contemporary 
records  the  most  generally  accessible  are  papers  in  the  Spectator  on 
the  opera,  by  Addison  and  Steele.  There  is  a  collection  of  fifty- 
two  of  Handel's  opera  arias,  published  by  Boosey,  edited  by  Best. 

The  turning  of  Handel's  attention  from  opera  to 
oratorio  was  gradual.  In  order  to  keep  the  public 
attention  occupied  during  Lent,  when  operas  were  not 
performed  in  London,  Handel  began  the  practice  of 
giving  miscellaneous  concerts  of  works  of  a  religious 
character,  with  occasionally  a  complete  choral  composi- 
tion. These  entertainments  were  called  indiscriminately 
"  oratorios."  When  the  Italian  opera  lost  favor  with 
fashionable  society  Handel  discovered  that  the  people 
were  powerfully  drawn  to  his  religious  works,  and  he 
gained  a  success  with  his  oratorios  that  he  had  never 
reached  with  operas. 

The  study  of  Handel's  oratorios  involves  an  examina- 
tion of  the  oratorio  as  an  art  form.  The  oratorio  is 
classed  in  the  order  of  dramatic  music,  of  which  it  may 
be  said  to  form  a  species.  It  is  an  error  to  include  the 
oratorio  in  church  music.  It  did  not  arise  in  connection 
with  church  worship  ;  it  has  no  connection  with  a  liturgy. 
It  is  concert  music.  It  is  not  even  necessarily  religious  ; 
there  are  secular  oratorios,  as  there  are  religious  operas. 


GEORGE  FREDERICK  HAXDEL,  1685-1759  135 


The  dramatic  and  epic  elements,  which  prevail  in  the 
oratorio,  also  remove  it  from  the  sphere  of  church  music. 
It  is  also  differentiated  from  the  opera  by  the  predomi- 
nance of  the  lyric  and  epic  elements.  The  fact  that  orato- 
rios are  almost  invariably  in  modern  times  given  without 
action,  costume  and  scenery  is  not  a  radical  distinc- 
tion, since  operas  are  sometimes  thus  given.  The 
distinction  lies  in  differences  of  form  and  constitution. 
The  aesthetic  problems  suggested  by  the  oratorio  may 
be  studied  by  means  of  analysis  of  typical  works  of  this 
class  by  Handel.  The  "  Messiah  "  is  an  example  of  an 
oratorio  that  is  almost  entirely  lyric ;  in  "  Israel  in 
Egypt"  the  epic  element  is  conspicuous,  and  in 
"Samson"  there  is  so  much  dramatic  movement  implied 
that  it  might  well  be  given  with  action  and  scenery. 

It  will  be  evident  that  the  absence  of  visible  represen- 
tation throws  especial  burdens  in  respect  to  sustaining 
the  poetic  movement  and  establishing  a  picturesque  set- 
ting upon  the  musical  factors,  —  but  in  a  peculiar  man- 
ner, for,  since  music  cannot  actually  take  the  place  of 
action  and  scene,  it  must  not  undertake  to  supply  the 
lack  of  histrionic  features  by  attempts  at  literal  imita- 
tion or  increased  violence  of  expression,  but  must  rather 
elevate  the  whole  representation  into  more  ideal  regions, 
emphasizing  general  conceptions  rather  than  those  local 
and  particular  details  with  which  the  opera  is  more 
competent  to  deal. 

The  large  space  given  to  musical  movements  whose 
texts  serve  as  commentaries  upon  the  imagined  action 
helps  to  distinguish  the  oratorio  from  the  opera.  Par- 
ticularly is  this  the  case  in  the  chorus,  which  sometimes 


136    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


expresses  the  mood  of  actual  supposed  participants  (Isra- 
elites and  Philistines  in  "  Samson "),  while  again  it 
utters  the  reflections  of  imaginary  observers  ("  Behold 
the  Lamb  of  God"  in  the  "Messiah"),  or  it  may  take 
the  part  of  a  narrator  of  events  (choruses  in  the  first 
part  of  "Israel  in  Egypt").  These  functions  may  also 
be  performed  by  the  aria.  The  musical  structure  of  the 
oratorio  is  much  more  loose  than  that  of  the  opera.  The 
implied  action  may  be  interrupted  for  a  considerable 
period  for  the  expression  of  mood  in  aria  or  chorus. 

The  more  universal  character  of  the  oratorio's  impres- 
sion and  the  frequent  prominence  of  the  didactic  element 
give  especial  opportunity  for  the  chorus.  The  choral 
force  chiefly  supplies  the  place  of  action  and  scenery ;  it 
sets  forth  the  ground  mood  from  which  the  moods  of  the 
single  characters  are  drawn,  and  sustains  the  emotional 
keynote,  the  local  complexion  and  the  ethical  purpose  of 
the  work. 

Handel  grasped  the  peculiar  prerogatives  of  the  ora- 
torio with  a  sure  hand,  and  although  his  power  was 
variable  he  never  failed  properly  to  discriminate  between 
the  respective  domains  of  the  oratorio  and  the  opera, 
and  he  established  the  ideal  and  the  boundaries  of  the 
former  once  for  all.  In  studying  his  recitatives  and 
arias  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  style  of  vocalism 
in  his  day  was  prescribed  by  the  Italian  opera  in  whose 
habit  Handel  had  grown  up,  and  that  his  airs  were 
written  for  singers  who  had  been  trained  in  the  opera. 
The  barrenness  of  much  of  his  recitative,  and  the  con- 
ventional expression  and  stereotyped  design  of  many  of 
his  arias,  with  their  da  capo  form,  their  long,  meaningless 


GEORGE  FREDERICK  HANDEL,  1G85-1759  137 


roulades,  etc.,  are  thus  explained.  Many  of  his  airs, 
however,  are  unexcelled  in  religious  music  for  beauty 
and  pathos.  Although  certain  critics,  such  as  Runci- 
man,  give  the  chief  praise  to  his  arias,  his  fame  seems 
to  rest  upon  his  choruses,  and  he  will  not  suffer  in  com- 
parison with  any  other  chorus  writer  in  the  history  of 
music.  His  mastery  of  counterpoint  was  equalled  by  no 
one  of  his  time  except  J.  S.  Bach,  and  he  was  able  also 
to  impart  a  variety  of  expression  entirely  suited  to  the 
needs  of  his  oratorio  subjects.  The  student  will  observe 
the  appropriateness  of  his  chorus  themes,  and  the  flex- 
ibility of  the  form  under  the  control  of  the  ideas  or 
pictures  that  are  to  be  presented. 

In  spite  of  the  general  impression  in  regard  to  Handel, 
it  is  to  be  noted  that  the  majority,  even  of  his  choral 
works,  are  secular.  He  is  hardly  more  remarkable  for 
dignity  and  grandeur  than  for  grace,  elegance  and 
suavity.  The  sportive  and  tender  side  of  his  genius, 
coupled  with  simplicity  in  structure,  is  seen  in  such 
works  as  "  Acis  and  Galatea  "  and  "  L'Allegro,  II  Pen- 
seroso  ed  II  Moderato,"  and  in  a  multitude  of  arias  and 
choruses  scattered  through  his  larger  works.  Subjects 
taken  from  Greek  lore  ("  Alexander's  Feast,"  "  Semele," 
"  Hercules ")  are  treated  with  hardly  less  power  than 
the  Old  Testament  themes. 

The  oratorio  style  of  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth 
centuries  culminates  in  Handel's  music.  Its  develop- 
ment is  to  be  traced  from  the  Italian  oratorio  of  Caris- 
simi  and  Stradella  (chap.  xv).  The  Italian  oratorios 
at  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century  consisted 
almost  entirely  of  vocal  solos,  decidedly  operatic  in  cut. 


138    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


Handel,  in  his  early  Italian  oratorios,  gave  the  scantiest 
space  to  the  chorus.  His  culture  always  rested  on 
Italian  melody,  even  in  the  structure  and  special  attri- 
butes of  his  polyphony.  His  latent  love  for  chorus 
writing  was  a  part  of  his  German  heritage  and  boyhood 
education,  encouraged  by  the  taste  of  the  English  public 
to  whom  he  appealed  in  his  religious  works.  The  influ- 
ence of  Henry  Purcell  is  unmistakable ;  the  church 
works  of  the  English  composer  powerfully  anticipate 
the  Handelian  chorus  style.  Their  influence  first  came 
to  light  in  the  Chandos  anthems,  which  are  forestudies 
for  the  oratorios. 

The  Italian  oratorio  was  often  given  with  action, 
costume  and  scenery.  Handel  began  in  the  same  way 
in  "  Esther,"  "  Acis  and  Galatea  "  and  "  Deborah,"  and 
would  probably  have  continued  the  practice  but  for 
clerical  objection. 

The  frequent  custom  among  composers  of  that 
period  of  drawing  upon  earlier  works  of  their  own, 
and  even  the  works  of  other  composers,  for  themes  and 
even  whole  movements,  was  carried  to  excess  by  Handel. 
Some  of  his  compositions  are  to  a  large  extent  patch- 
works of  alien  material.  The  most  conspicuous  example 
is  "  Israel  in  Egypt,"  in  which  out  of  thirty-nine  num- 
bers sixteen  are  composed  wholly  or  in  part  of  the  work 
of  others,  while  he  also  draws  upon  his  own  organ 
fugues.  The  chorus  "  Egypt  was  glad "  is  an  organ 
fugue  by  Kerl ;  eight  numbers  in  the  second  part  are 
from  a  "  Magnificat "  by  Erba.  In  the  later  works 
this  practice  of  literal  borrowing  from  other  composers 
was  abandoned. 


GEORGE  FREDERICK  HAXDEL,  1685-1759  139 


On  the  ideal  and  nature  of  the  oratorio  as  an  art  form  there  is  but 
little  to  be  found  in  English.  The  most  philosophical  statement  is 
perhaps  that  of  Parry,  in  The  Evolution  of  the  Art  of  Music,  chap. 
13.    See  also  Stainer  and  Barrett's  Dictionary,  article  Oratorio. 

For  the  history  and  criticism  of  Handel's  oratorios  :  the  biogra- 
phies as  above;  Grove's  Dictionary,  articles  Handel,  Oratorio;  Ox- 
ford History  of  Music,  vol.  iv;  Famous  Composers  and  their  Works, 
series  i,  article  Handel;  Naumann,  History  of  Music ;  Parry,  The 
Evolution  of  the  Art  of  Music,  chap.  7;  Statham,  My  Thoughts  on 
Music  and  Musicians  ;  Henderson,  How  Music  Developed. 

Handel's  use  of  foreign  material  in  certain  works,  particularly 
"Israel,"  is  discussed  in  vol.  iv  of  the  Oxford  History  of  Music  ; 
Statham,  My  Thoughts  on  Music  and  Musicians ;  Rockstro,  Life  of 
Handel;  Grove's  Dictionary,  article  Israel  in  Egypt. 

When  we  listen  to  an  oratorio  by  Handel,  or  a  cantata 
or  passion  by  Bach,  we  do  not  hear  the  orchestral  part 
that  was  written  by  the  composer.  This  brings  forward 
the  question  of  "  additional  accompaniments,"  on  which 
much  dispute  has  been  raised.  The  need  of  writing  out 
new  parts  for  the  instruments  is  due  to  several  facts : 
(1)  In  the  case  of  the  recitatives  and  many  of  the  arias 
the  composer  wrote  only  a  figured  bass,  from  which  he 
or  a  proficient  in  this  art  improvised  the  accompaniment 
upon  the  harpsichord.  Sometimes  the  bass  is  not  even 
figured.  Not  only  is  playing  from  a  figured  bass  to  a 
large  extent  a  lost  art,  but  the  piano  is  no  longer  used 
in  connection  with  the  orchestra  in  choral  works.  (2) 
Rescoring  of  the  orchestral  parts  accompanying  choruses 
and  arias  is  also  necessary  because  the  orchestras  of  the 
seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries  contained  instru- 
ments that  are  now  obsolete.  This  was  especially  the 
case  with  Bach's  orchestra.  (3)  The  balance  of  instru- 
ments in  the  time  of  Bach  and  Handel  was  different  from 
that  of  the  modern  band,  so  that  even  where  no  obso- 


140    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


lete  instruments  were  used  the  modern  orchestra  must 
strengthen  certain  parts  or  reduce  others  in  order  to  pre- 
serve the  effect  intended  by  the  composer.  Additional 
accompaniments  are  also  often  written  in  order  to  make 
the  effect  more  agreeable  to  the  modern  ear,  since  the  old 
orchestration  was  often  thin  and  harsh.  But  here  the 
justification  is  much  less,  and  may  reasonably  be  denied 
altogether. 

A  science  of  orchestration  in  the  modern  sense  did  not 
then  exist.  There  was  no  uniform  orchestral  standard 
in  respect  to  the  nature,  proportionate  number  or  group- 
ing of  instruments.  Harsh  instruments  such  as  oboes 
and  bassoons  were  often  used  in  masses,  equal  in  number 
to  the  strings.  The  instrumentation  would  often  remain 
unchanged  throughout  an  entire  number.  A  group  of 
instruments  of  the  same  class  would  accompany  a  long 
passage ;  perhaps  two  or  three  would  serve,  the  rest  of 
the  orchestra  being  silent.  The  modern  method  by 
which  an  orchestra  of  standard  constitution  is  constantly 
employed,  but  with  a  continual  mingling  and  interchange 
of  timbres,  was  quite  unknown.  A  scanty  orchestra  would 
be  used  for  arias,  a  fuller  one  for  choruses.  The  number 
of  players  was  often  greater  than  the  number  of  singers. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  task  of  the  musician  who 
rescores  an  old  work  is  a  delicate  one.  He  must  be  true 
to  the  spirit  of  the  composer,  and  while  using  the  powers 
of  the  full  modern  orchestra  he  must  not  alter  the  notes 
as  they  stand  where  it  is  not  absolutely  necessary,  must 
not  substitute  loud  noise  for  quietness  or  the  gorgeous 
coloring  of  the  romantic  age  for  the  old  simplicity  and 
moderation. 


GEORGE  FREDERICK  II AXDEL,  1685-1759  141 


For  the  orchestration  of  Bach  and  Handel:  Oxford  History  of 
Music,  vol.  iv  ;  Henderson,  How  Music  Developed,  and  The  Orches- 
tra and  Orchestral  Music ;  Spitta,  Johann  Sebastian  Bach ;  Rockstro, 
Life  of  Handel. 

For  additional  accompaniments  and  rescoring :  excellent  ar- 
ticles by  Apthorp,  Musicians  and  Music  Lovers  ;  Grove's  Dictionary, 
article  Additional  Accompaniments.  For  Mozart's  adaptations  of  the 
"  Messiah,"  "  Acis  and  Galatea,"  "Ode  for  St.  Cecilia's  Day"  and 
"  Alexander's  Feast,"  see  Jahn,  Life  of  Mozart,  vol.  iii,  chap.  29. 
An  article  in  the  Forum,  May,  1898,  recounts  the  recent  revival  of 
works  by  Handel  in  Germany,  with  the  original  orchestration  and 
the  eighteenth-century  methods  of  performance. 

Handel's  anthems,  hymns,  Te  Deums,  etc.,  may  be 
called  church  music  in  a  qualified  sense.  Written  to  be 
used  in  religious  service,  the  style  is  essentially  that  of 
the  oratorios.  The  Chandos  anthems,  for  example,  are 
more  like  cantatas  than  motets,  are  mixed  solo  and 
chorus  in  form  and  suggest  the  semi-dramatic  tone  of 
Handel's  Old  Testament  oratorios.  They  continue  the 
manner  brought  into  vogue  in  the  time  of  Charles  II., 
and  established  as  a  standard  by  Purcell.  In  them,  and 
in  the  Te  Deums,  coronation  anthems,  etc.,  Handel 
experimented  with  the  chorus,  which  was  to  play  so 
imposing  a  part  in  the  oratorios. 

Handel's  instrumental  works  are  of  comparatively 
slight  importance.  The  suites,  lessons,  fugues,  concertos, 
etc.,  conform  strictly  to  the  style  of  such  works  employed 
in  Germany  and  France.  They  are  of  admirable  work- 
manship, but  have  little  decided  individuality.  The 
organ  concertos,  still  occasionally  played,  do  not  differ 
essentially  in  style  from  the  harpsichord  works. 

Spitta,  Johann  Sebastian  Bach,  vol.  ii,  p.  25,  draws  an  interest- 
ing comparison  between  Bach  and  Handel  as  organists. 


xxn 


OPERA-COMIQUE  IN  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY 

The  period  in  the  history  of  the  opera  in  France  that 
lies  between  1750  and  1780  includes  what  is  hardly  less 
than  a  revolution  in  practice  and  taste,  brought  about  by 
the  rise  of  the  ope*ra-comique  and  the  reforms  of  Gluck. 
The  stiff  and  pompous  form  of  Lully,  only  partially 
ameliorated  by  Rameau,  held  its  ground  with  great 
tenacity  past  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century.  The 
Italian  opera  seria  was  always  an  exotic.  The  opera 
buffa  appealed  more  strongly  to  French  taste,  and  gave  a 
stimulus  to  certain  national  proclivities  which  resulted 
in  the  French  musical  comedy,  which  has  gained  so  high 
a  place  in  the  nineteenth  century. 

The  original  conception  of  opera-comique  is  that  of  a 
play  in  which  musical  numbers  are  connected  with  spo- 
ken dialogue,  and  in  which  the  ending  is  happy.  By  the 
middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  it  had  divided  into  two 
classes,  the  op£ra-bouffe  preserving  the  primitive  ele- 
ment of  farce,  the  opera-comique  proper  developing  into 
a  refined  musical  comedy,  dignified  and  often  serious. 
In  the  latter  form  the  spoken  dialogue  is  reduced  to 
smaller  and  smaller  space,  sometimes  even  disappearing 
entirely.  At  present  the  term  ope*ra-comique  signifies 
no  more  than  a  work  written  for  and  produced  at  the 


OPERA-COMIQUE  IN  THE  18th  CENTURY  143 


Theatre  de  l'Op^ra-comique.  Bizet's  "Carmen,"  a 
tragedy,  is  thus  classed  as  opdra-comique. 

Comic  opera  in  all  countries  has  originated  in  spoken 
plays,  in  which  songs,  usually  in  the  form  of  popular 
ditties,  are  interspersed  (German  Singspiel,  English 
ballad  opera).  The  opera-comique  and  opera  buffa  were 
similar  in  antecedents  and  early  characteristics,  both 
farcical,  partly  improvised,  dealing  with  the  manners 
and  adapted  to  the  tastes  of  the  common  people.  (See 
chap,  xvi.)  The  stock  from  which  the  op6ra-comique 
grew  was  the  vaudeville  (a  word  of  uncertain  origin), 
a  simple,  popular  play,  of  burlesque  nature,  performed 
by  vagabond  actors  in  the  open  air.  The  expansion  of 
the  musical  elements  under  the  suggestion  of  the 
imported  opera  buffa  transformed  the  rude  vaudeville 
into  a  respectable  form  of  operetta. 

The  arrival  of  an  Italian  buffa  troupe  in  Paris  in  1752 
also  struck  a  heavy  blow  at  the  supremacy  of  the  French 
grand  opera.  The  "war  of  the  Lullists  and  Bouffon- 
ists  "  was  important  as  clearing  the  air  for  the  reforms 
of  Gluck.  Among  the  most  influential  contributions  to 
the  feud  was  the  letter  on  French  music,  by  Rousseau, 
in  which  the  writer  contends  that  the  French  language 
is  not  suited  to  music,  praises  Italian  melody  and 
recitative  and  indicts  the  French  grand  opera  for  its 
failure  to  express  real  feeling. 

The  new  ope'ra-comique  profited  by  the  ferment.  A 
theatre  was  built  for  it,  and  Dauvergne  produced  "  Les 
Troquers  "  in  1753,  on  the  pattern  of  the  opera  buffa. 
Nothing  of  importance  in  this  line  followed  until  Duni's 
brilliant  success  in  1757,  and  from  that  time  there  was 


144    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


no  check  in  the  rapid  progress  of  opera-comique,  as  an 
independent  form  of  art. 

The  most  notable  composers  following  Duni  were 
Danican,  called  Philidor  (1726-1795),  Monsigny  (1729- 
1817),  and  Gretry  (1741-1813).  The  music  of  the  two 
former  was  sprightly  and  taking,  but  amateurish  and 
without  lasting  value.  Gretry  holds  a  much  higher 
rank.  His  operas,  although  weak  in  harmony  and 
instrumentation,  are  remarkable  for  vivacity  and  clever- 
ness in  characterization.  Of  his  fifty  dramatic  works, 
some  also  written  for  the  grand  opera,  "  Richard  Cceur 
de  Lion,"  his  masterpiece,  still  holds  the  stage.  Some 
of  the  permanent  traits  of  opera-comique  were  fixed  by 
Grdtry ;  his  work  closes  the  first  period  of  this  form  of 
music. 

The  opdra-comique  of  the  eighteenth  century  was  a 
sign  of  the  growing  demand  for  naturalness  in  dramatic 
representation.  The  grand  opera,  like  the  spoken  trag- 
edy, had  become  stiff,  pompous,  affected  and  conventional. 
Its  antique  characters  and  furniture  had  no  connection 
with  the  thought  and  feeling  of  the  day.  The  reaction 
against  pseudo-classic  pomposity  found  expression  in  the 
every-day  themes  and  lively  representation  of  the  ope*ra- 
comique.  It  reflected  the  customs  and  ideas  of  the  com- 
mon people  in  the  period  just  preceding  the  Revolution, 
and  by  means  of  its  effective  satire  against  the  higher 
classes  it  often  served  as  a  fomenter  of  discontent. 

For  the  original  vaudeville  and  farce  comedy  see  the  standard 
histories  of  French  literature.  For  the  French  theatres  in  general, 
Lavoix,  The  Eighteenth  Century,  chap.  16;  for  the  opera-comique: 
Oxford  History  of  Music,  vol.  ii  ;  Naumann,  History  of  Music,  vol.  ii; 


OP&RA-COMIQUE  IN  THE  18TH  CENTURY  145 


Langhans,  History  of  Music  in  Twelve  Lectures,  pp.  83-6  ;  Famous 
Composers  and  their  Works,  series  i,  Music  in  France  and  Gre'try ; 
Grove's  Dictionary,  articles  Comic  Opera,  Vaudeville,  Dauvergne, 
Duni,  Gre'try,  Philidor,  Rousseau;  Apthorp,  The  Opera,  Past  and 
Present ;  Streatfeild,  The  Opera,  chap.  3  ;  Hogarth,  Memoirs  of  the 
Musical  Drama,  vol.  ii,  chaps.  10  and  12;  Jahn,  Life  of  MozarU 
vol.  ii,  pp.  8-17. 


10 


XXIII 


CHRISTOPH  WILLIBALD  GLUCK,  1714-1787 

The  higher  conception  of  modern  opera,  in  which 
controlling  emphasis  is  laid  upon  natural  character, 
poetic  subject  and  dramatic  reality,  dates  from  Gluck 
and  Mozart.  The  Italian  "  god  and  hero "  opera  had 
become  stereotyped,  the  efforts  of  composers  ran  wholly 
to  the  making  of  formal  arias ;  dramatic  interest  had  long 
since  departed.  Mozart  reformed  it  by  choosing  texts 
that  had  life  and  reality,  and  by  directing  his  unequalled 
genius  for  melody  to  the  ends  of  expression.  Gluck's 
reforms,  in  a  general  way  similar,  were  more  deliberate 
and  conscious.  He,  too,  would  restore  the  truth  of 
nature  and  genuine  human  types  and  motives  to  the 
stage.  His  reform  effort  began  upon  the  Italian  stage 
at  Vienna,  and  was  carried  to  its  completion  upon  the 
boards  of  the  French  grand  opera  at  Paris.  In  the 
French  opera  his  changes  were  less  radical,  for  the  opera 
of  Lully  and  Rameau  had  been  based  upon  a  conscious- 
ness of  dramatic  needs,  and  only  required  the  infusion 
of  greater  musical  force  and  intensity  of  expression, 
together  with  the  clearing  away  of  certain  artificialities 
and  conventions.  Gluck's  aim,  in  a  word,  was  the  abo- 
lition of  pedantic  rules  and  inane  traditions  in  the  inter- 
est of  suitableness  of  music  to  character  and  situation. 
This  principle  necessarily  involved  the  recasting  and 
strengthening  of  the  dramatic  elements  also.  Gluck 


CHRISTOPH  WILLIBALD  GLUCK,  1714-1787  147 


thus  became  the  father  of  the  French  grand  opera  in  its 
modern  form.  His  influence  was  also  felt  in  the  Italian 
and  German  opera. 

The  causes  that  led  to  Gluck's  reform  determination 
are  not  easy  to  trace.  Until  nearly  fifty  years  old  he 
worked  in  the  lines  of  the  conventional  Italian  opera. 
Hints  of  a  higher  purpose  are  found  here  and  there  in 
these  earlier  works.  He  heard  Handel's  oratorios  in 
London;  he  read  extensively  in  Greek  and  Latin  dra- 
matic poetry  after  he  was  forty ;  there  was  a  wide-spread 
disgust  with  the  shallowness  and  monotony  of  the  Italian 
opera  voiced  by  many  literary  men  and  musicians,  such 
as  Diderot,  Addison  and  Marcello.  Gluck's  nature  was 
essentially  serious ;  he  had  the  dramatic  instinct ;  he  saw 
that  the  conventional  opera  was  in  a  state  of  hopeless 
decay,  and  that  the  time  was  ripe  for  a  new  creation. 

The  history  of  his  epoch-making  work  begins  with 
"  Orfeo  ed  Euridice  "  in  Vienna,  1762,  and  is  continued 
with  "  Alceste,"  1767,  "Paride  ed  Helena,"  1769,  "Iphi- 
g£nie  en  Aulide,"  1774,  "  Armide,"  1777,  and  "  Iphigenie 
en  Tauride,"  1779.  The  last  three  were  written  for 
Paris,  where  French  versions  of  "  Orfeo  "  and  "  Alceste  " 
were  also  produced. 

The  study  of  Gluck  chiefly  centres  in  his  Paris  cam- 
paign, 1774-1779,  to  which  his  reform  efforts  in  Vienna 
were  merely  preliminary.  The  interest  in  the  external 
events  of  his  life  lies  mainly  in  the  circumstances  attend- 
ing the  production  of  his  reform  operas,  and  the  bitter 
controversies  occasioned  by  them,  particularly  the  rivalry 
of  Gluck  with  Piccinni,  who  was  brought  to  Paris  by 
Gluck's  opponents  in  the  Italian  party. 


148    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OP  MUSIC 


For  the  biography  of  Gluck  any  of  the  standard  historical  works 
already  referred  to  will  serve.  The  fullest  account  is  in  Newman's 
Gluck  and  the  Opera.  The  latter  work  contains  a  chronological  list 
of  works.  The  reform  operas,  vocal  and  piano  score,  French  and 
German  text,  are  published  by  Peters.  Novello's  edition  with  Eng- 
lish text  includes  "  Orpheus "  and  the  two  Iphigenias.  Gluck's 
greatest  work  is  "Iphigenie  en  Tauride."  "  Orfeo  "  is  still  one 
of  the  most  frequently  performed. 

Gluck  remained  true  to  the  customs  of  the  day  in  tak- 
ing the  subjects  of  most  of  his  works  from  classic  lore, 
mythical  and  "  historic."  He  differed  from  his  contem- 
poraries in  his  later  period  in  his  effort  to  restore  the 
classic  spirit.  In  "  Orfeo  "  he  did  not  completely  break 
with  the  traditional  style ;  his  method  was  not  entirely 
clear  to  himself ;  he  failed  of  the  proper  climax  through 
an  over-insistence  upon  recitative.  But  his  aim  is  evi- 
dent ;  he  abjures  vocalism  as  mere  display ;  in  certain 
scenes,  such  as  that  between  Orpheus  and  the  guardians 
of  the  lower  regions  in  the  first  act,  he  attains  a  dra- 
matic force  unknown  up  to  that  time  upon  the  opera 
stage. 

"  Alceste "  shows  an  advance  in  tragic  intensity, 
especially  in  the  music  given  to  the  chief  character. 
This  work  is  especially  interesting  on  account  of  the 
preface,  in  which  Gluck  laid  down  the  principles  on 
which  he  conceived  a  true  musical  drama  should  be 
based.  This  preface,  which  is  given  in  Grove's  Diction- 
ary, article  Gluck,  should  be  carefully  read. 

In  "  Paride  ed  Helena "  the  lyric  predominates. 
The  work  lacks  variety  of  incident. 

Gluck's  reform  plans  could  not  succeed  in  Vienna,  the 
stronghold  of  Italian  opera.    Conditions  were  far  more 


CHRISTOPH  WILLIBALD  GLUCK,  1714-1787  149 


favorable  in  Paris,  where  there  was  a  higher  dramatic 
appreciation,  and  where  Gluck's  methods  could  be 
carried  out  in  the  domain  of  the  French  grand  opera 
without  a  radical  overturning.  The  championship  of 
eminent  literary  men  furthered  the  final  success  of  his 
cause. 

For  the  condition  of  operatic  affairs  in  Paris  and  the  state  of 
opinion  :  Newman,  Gluck  and  the  Opera ;  Oxford  History  of  Music, 
vol.  v;  Apthorp,  The  Opera,  Past  and  Present;  Hervey,  French 
Music  in  the  Nineteenth  Century. 

The  highest  qualities  of  Gluck's  art  are  to  be  found 
in  his  three  Paris  operas,  especially  "  Iphigenie  en  Tau- 
ride."  The  latter  is  the  most  sustained  in  merit,  almost 
wholly  lacking  in  the  long  stretches  of  commonplace 
which  in  the  others  reveal  the  influence  of  the  age  upon 
Gluck.  In  Gluck's  masterpiece  the  student  will  observe 
the  almost  unfailing  correspondence  between  music  and 
situation.  The  text  and  subject  are  superior  to  those  of 
any  of  Gluck's  other  operas.  The  composer  shows  at  its 
highest  point  his  skill  in  portraying  poignant  emotion, 
his  power  in  welding  all  the  poetic  and  musical  elements 
into  one  consistent  and  living  unity.  The  plot  should 
be  carefully  read,  and  an  interesting  side-study  would  be 
a  comparison  of  it  with  the  treatment  of  the  Iphigenia 
story  by  Euripides  and  by  Goethe. 

The  most  valuable  aid  in  the  reading  of  Gluck's  operas  is  the 
analyses  and  criticisms  by  Newman  in  Gluck  and  the  Opera. 

The  clue  to  Gluck's  purpose  may  be  found  in  the 
words  of  his  letter  to  La  Harpe,  in  which  he  says :  "  I 
have  believed  that  music,  like  the  other  arts,  embraces 


150    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


the  whole  sphere  of  the  passions,  and  that  it  cannot  please 
less  when  it  expresses  the  troubles  of  a  madman  and  the 
cry  of  grief,  than  when  it  paints  the  sighs  of  love.  I 
have  thought  that  this  rule  should  hold  in  music  equally 
as  in  poetry.  I  have  persuaded  myself  that  song,  when 
it  thoroughly  takes  the  color  of  the  feeling  it  is  to  express, 
should  be  as  various  and  as  many-sided  as  feeling  itself ; 
in  fine,  that  the  voices,  the  instruments,  the  tones,  even 
the  pauses,  should  strive  after  one  end  —  expression,  and 
the  agreement  between  the  words  and  the  song  should 
be  such  that  neither  the  poem  should  seem  to  be  made 
for  the  music,  nor  the  music  for  the  poem.',  (The  whole 
letter  is  given  by  Newman,  p.  171.) 

Gluck's  genius  was  powerful  enough  to  enforce  the 
reasonableness  of  these  principles  upon  his  contempora- 
ries and  posterity.  His  strength  lies  in  his  ability  to 
produce  great  effect  with  simple  means,  and  in  the  severe 
grandeur  of  his  style,  which  is  especially  suited  to  his 
antique  subjects.  Compared  with  modern  operas  his 
works  seem  lacking  in  melodic  invention,  and  are  rather 
monochromatic.  In  musical  science  he  is  not  to  be 
ranked  among  the  greatest.  The  orchestra  in  his  time 
was  weak  and  undeveloped,  although  Gluck  foreshadowed 
the  later  reliance  upon  the  instruments  for  dramatic 
expression.  In  emphasizing  declamation  in  accordance 
with  the  traditions  of  the  French  opera  he  sacrificed  too 
much  on  the  side  of  melody.  In  scenes  where  tuneful- 
ness is  an  inevitable  need  for  the  proper  expression  or 
atmosphere  he  is  often  tame  and  conventional.  His 
adoption,  also,  of  the  almost  universal  aesthetic  creed  of 
the  eighteenth  century  that  art  is  the  imitation  of  nature, 


CHRISTOPH  WILLIBALD  GLUCK,  1714-1787  151 


and  that  music,  like  words,  finds  its  true  function  in 
"  painting  "  life  and  nature,  led  him  into  many  trivialities 
and  formalisms.  His  acceptance  of  the  principle  (in 
which,  fortunately,  he  was  not  consistent)  that  music 
must  be  subordinate  to  poetry,  had  often  a  depressing 
effect  upon  his  invention  and  involved  the  loss  of  many 
fine  opportunities.  He  was  great  in  the  critical  moments 
of  the  individual  soul,  as  in  the  portrayal  of  the  con- 
flicts of  motive  in  Alcestis,  Armida,  Iphigenia  and 
Orestes.  He  never  fails,  also,  in  such  scenes  power- 
fully to  emphasize  the  proper  dramatic  setting  and 
background. 

His  thought  was  not  the  production  of  beautiful  music 
as  the  prime  incentive,  but  the  reinforcement  of  action 
and  poetic  motive.  He  strove  to  portray  his  heroes  and 
heroines  as  real  men  and  women,  moved  by  natural  feel- 
ings ;  he  would  subordinate  details  to  the  controlling 
dramatic  conception,  and  carry  on  the  action  unbroken 
to  an  inevitable  climax.  He  abrogated  the  so-called 
u  laws  "  of  the  opera,  and  proclaimed  the  higher  law  of 
propriety  and  truth. 

The  study  of  one  or  two  typical  works  of  Gluck  will 
show  the  student  his  method  in  the  attainment  of  these 
results.  Unlike  Wagner,  he  did  not  exclude  the  aria, 
but  used  it,  not  for  empty  tone  play  or  exploitation  of 
vocalism,  but  for  expression.  (Exceptions  will  be  noted 
in  which  he  temporarily  defers  to  the  taste  created  by 
the  Italian  opera.)  He  gives  to  the  accompanied  reci- 
tative a  new  power.  He  is  superior  to  all  preceding 
writers  in  the  use  of  the  orchestra ;  in  his  picturing  of 
situations,  creating  the  proper  atmosphere,  and  intensi- 


152    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


fying  vocal  expression  by  means  of  instruments,  he  sug- 
gests the  methods  of  the  modern  school.  He  uses  the 
overture  for  the  first  time  as  an  adequate  indication  of 
the  mood  and  character  of  the  work  to  follow.  He  gives 
great  importance  to  the  chorus  as  a  dramatic  factor. 
The  dance  is  also  an  important  element,  often  an  inte- 
gral part  of  the  action ;  as  would  properly  be  the  case  in 
plays  founded  upon  antique  subjects  (e.  g.  dances  of 
the  furies  and  spirits  of  the  lower  world  in  "  Orfeo  "  and 
"  Iphig^nie  en  Tauride  ").  He  often  uses  the  ballet  also 
as  a  mere  embellishment,  thus  deferring  to  French 
custom. 

The  practical  principles  exemplified  by  Gluck  in  his 
best  work  —  unity,  proportion,  appropriateness  of  music 
to  word  and  action  —  are  the  source  of  his  strength  and 
his  permanent  influence.  His  works  supplanted  the  old 
French  opera  (Lully  and  Rameau),  and  dealt  a  blow  to 
the  Italian  grand  opera  from  which  it  never  completely 
rallied. 

By  far  the  ablest  study  of  Gluck,  as  well  as  the  most  detailed, 
that  has  been  made  by  any  English  writer  is  Gluck  and  the  Opera, 
by  Ernest  Newman.  It  is  thoroughly  scientific  in  treatment,  and 
very  enlightening  in  respect  to  the  relation  of  Gluck's  theories  to 
certain  aesthetic  ideas  prevalent  in  the  eighteenth  century.  The 
preface  gives  a  list  of  works  on  the  subject  in  French  and  German. 
See  also  Grove's  Dictionary,  articles  Gluck,  Opera,  Piccinni;  Nau- 
mann,  History  of  Music ;  Famous  Composers  and  their  Works,  series 
i  ;  Oxford  History  of  Music,  vol.  v;  Langhans,  History  of  Music  in 
Twelve  Lectures ;  Apthorp,  The  Opera,  Past  and  Present;  Parry, 
The  Evolution  of  the  Art  of  Music ;  Jahn,  Life  of  Mozart,  vol.  ii ; 
Hervey,  French  Music  in  the  Nineteenth  Century  (touches  upon 
Gluck's  relation  to  his  time)  ;  Finck,  Life  of  Wagner,  vol.  i,  p.  302; 
Henderson,  How  Music  Developed ;  Streatfeiid,  The  Opera. 


XXIV 


JOSEPH  HAYDN,  1732-1809 

PRINCIPAL  WORKS.  — Instrumental:  125  sym- 
phonies ;  77  string  quartets ;  30  string  trios ;  38  piano 
trios  ;  66  compositions  for  orchestral  instruments  in  vari- 
ous forms ;  31  string  concertos ;  20  piano  concertos;  53 
piano  sonatas ;  175  pieces  for  baryton. 

Vocal :  llf,  masses  ;  many  miscellaneous  church  pieces  ; 
4.  oratorios ;  about  20  operas;  a  large  quantity  of  can- 
tatas, arias,  songs,  duets,  choruses,  etc. 

There  is  a  considerable  list  of  supposititious  and  doubt- 
ful  works.  Many  of  Haydn's  compositions  have  been  lost. 
A  complete  and  accurate  catalogue  can  probably  never 
be  made. 

Joseph  Haydn  is  the  first  great  name  in  the  history  of 
the  fully  developed  sonata  form  (including  in  this  term 
the  symphony,  quartet,  solo  sonata  and  allied  forms). 
He  marks  the  transition  between  the  immature  but  pro- 
phetic forms  of  CP.  E.  Bach  and  the  complete  maturity 
of  the  sonata.  He  finally  traced  out  the  course  which 
instrumental  music  after  the  death  of  J.  S.  Bach  was  to 
take.  So  powerful  was  the  impulse  which  he  gave  to 
the  homophonic  cyclic  form,  so  rapid  and  conclusive  was 
the  progress  which  it  made  under  his  hands,  that  he  has 
been  called  the  creator  and  founder  of  the  symphony, 


154    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 

sonata  and  quartet.  But  this  is  an  exaggeration.  It 
overlooks  the  fact  that  a  large  number  of  composers  in 
his  early  time  were  struggling  with  the  same  problem, 
and  working  along  similar  lines.  He  was  simply  the 
greatest  in  genius  of  the  instrumental  writers  of  his  day. 
His  works  have  lived  by  virtue  of  the  superiority  of 
their  contents.  The  other  orchestral  writers  of  South 
Germany  and  Austria  in  the  first  three-quarters  of  the 
eighteenth  century  have  been  forgotten.  Most  of  the 
works  of  Haydn  which  are  known  to  music  lovers  to-day 
belong  to  the  last  twenty  years  of  his  life.  He  should 
be  called  the  foster-father,  rather  than  the  father,  of  the 
symphony  and  quartet,  for  he  raised  them  from  feeble- 
ness to  strength  and  authority. 

Haydn  was  born  at  Kohrau  in  Austria,  near  the  fron- 
tier of  Hungary.  W.  H.  Hadow,  in  A  Croatian  Composer, 
has  attempted  to  prove  that  he  was  of  Croatian  stock, 
not  German.  He  belonged  to  the  peasant  class ;  his 
childhood's  home  was  one  of  poverty.  His  close  con- 
tact and  his  lifelong  sympathy  with  the  common  people 
and  rural  life  must  be  held  in  mind  in  studying  the  style 
of  his  music.  He  spent  eight  years  as  choir  boy  at  St. 
Stephen's  church  in  Vienna.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  he 
was  thrown  upon  his  own  resources.  His  instruction 
from  masters  was  meagre ;  he  was  to  a  large  extent  a 
self-taught  composer.  He  was  patronized  by  Metastasio, 
Porpora  and  others  of  the  Italian  school.  He  became 
chapel-master  to  Count  Morzin  in  Hungary  in  1759.  In 
1761  he  entered  the  service  of  the  Esterhazy  family  in 
Hungary,  under  whose  support  he  remained  throughout 
his  life.    He  lived  at  Eisenstadt  and  Esterhaz  with  occa- 


JOSEPH  HAYDN,  1732-1809 


155 


sional  visits  with  his  masters  to  Vienna.  In  1791  and 
1791  he  made  visits  to  London,  and  produced  the  fa- 
mous London  symphonies.  He  took  up  his  final  abode 
in  Vienna  in  1795  with  a  liberal  pension  from  the  Ester- 
hazys.  His  closing  years  were  signalized  by  the  produc- 
tion of  the  "  Creation  "  and  the  "  Seasons." 

Hadden,  Haydn  {Master  Musicians  series);  Grove's  Dictionary, 
article  Haydn ;  Famous  Composers  and  their  Works,  series  i ;  Nau- 
mann,  History  of  Music;  Townsend,  Haydn  (Great  Musicians 
series) ;  Letters  of  Distinguished  Musicians,  translated  by  Lady 
Wallace.  For  catalogue  of  works :  Townsend's  Haydn,  Grove's 
Dictionary ,  article  Haydn,  and  Hadden's  Haydn. 

Haydn's  eminence  in  the  history  of  music  depends  not 
so  much  upon  the  inherent  power  of  his  works,  judged 
at  least  by  modern  standards,  as  upon  their  prophetic 
and  suggestive  character.  They  were  the  most  con- 
spicuous marks  of  a  universal  tendency,  viz.  a  breaking 
away  from  the  contrapuntal  style  and  religious  influences, 
and  a  development  of  cyclic  forms  under  the  control  of 
the  homophonic  principle,  these  forms  being  designed 
for  social  and  domestic  entertainment.  Haydn  saw 
clearly  the  new  capacities  of  instrumental  music, 
especially  in  combinations  of  instruments,  and  pointed 
the  way  to  their  fulfilment  by  later  masters.  He  ex- 
tended and  unified  the  sonata  form,  and  applied  it  to  the 
various  classes  of  instrumental  music. 

The  conditions  that  acted  upon  Haydn  and  determined 
the  direction  of  his  genius  are  a  most  interesting  sub- 
ject of  study.  The  problem  is,  however,  obscure,  for 
little  is  known  of  the  work  of  other  Austrian  and  South 
German  composers  in  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth 


156    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


century.  The  form  of  his  works  may  be  traced  to 
C.  P.  E.  Bach  and  the  still  earlier  sonata  and  suite 
writers  of  Germany,  France  and  Italy. 

The  origin  of  the  symphony  is  to  be  found  in  the 
Italian  three-movement  overture.  Separated  from  the 
opera  and  cultivated  as  an  independent  style,  it  was  taken 
up  by  C.  P.  E.  Bach,  Cannabich,  Stamitz,  Abel  and 
others,  the  harpsichord  and  figured  bass  abandoned  and 
the  minuet  added.  The  most  important  step  in  the 
transition  from  the  Italian  overture  to  the  German  sym- 
phony was  the  disuse  of  the  figured  bass.  The  early 
symphonies  of  Haydn  are  simple  and  uncertain,  much 
like  those  of  the  Mannheim  composers.  He  rapidly  out- 
stripped all  others,  and  until  Mozart's  last  three  sym- 
phonies appeared  in  1788,  he  was  recognized  far  and 
wide  as  the  highest  model  in  this  field  of  art.  In 
Haydn's  symphonies,  as  well  as  quartets  and  sonatas, 
the  second  theme  was  given  its  complete  rights,  the 
possibilities  of  the  working-out  section  suggested  and 
the  methods  of  thematic  development  fully  indicated. 

For  the  history  and  development  of  the  symphony  and  Haydn's 
contributions  to  instrumental  form,  Oxford  History  of  Music,  vol.  v; 
the  nature  and  significance  of  the  transition  from  the  polyphonic  to 
the  homophonic  style  is  well  brought  out  in  chap.  3.  Also  Famous 
Composers  and  their  Works,  series  i,  article  Haydn;  Parry,  The  Evo- 
lution of  the  Art  of  Music  ;  Grove's  Dictionary,  articles  Form,  Sonata, 
Symphony;  Jahn,  Life  of  Mozart,  vol.  i,  chap.  14.  For  the  personal 
and  musical  relations  of  Haydn  and  Mozart,  Jahn,  Life  of  Mozart, 
vol.  ii,  chap.  28.  Peters'  edition  of  a  few  of  Haydn's  symphonies 
in  score  is  inexpensive. 

The  modern  string  quartet  is  even  more  the  contribu- 
tion of  Haydn  than  the  symphony.    The  ancestry  of  the 


JOSEPH  HAYDN,  1732-1809 


157 


quartet  reaches  back  into  a  number  of  musical  usages, 
irregular  and  indefinite  in  character.  Its  predecessor  in 
Austria  was  the  light  species  of  entertainment  called 
divertimento  or  cassation,  consisting  of  a  variable  num- 
ber of  movements  resembling  a  suite,  with  one  instru- 
ment to  a  part.  The  influence  of  the  Italian  chamber 
music  of  Corelli's  time  also  acted  upon  Haydn  in  the  con- 
struction of  his  quartets.  An  important  change,  how- 
ever, is  Haydn's  abandonment  of  the  basso  continuo. 
Haydn's  quartets  were  subjected  to  the  same  shaping 
process  as  his  symphonies.  "  It  was  his  inexhaustibly 
fertile  invention  and  his  freedom  in  the  treatment  of 
form  which  nourished  and  developed  the  germ  of  this 
chamber  music,  until  it  bore  the  most  beautiful  blossoms 
of  German  musical  art."   (Jahn,  Mozart,  vol.  i,  p.  309.) 

The  quartet  is  denied  the  mass  effects  and  variety  of 
color  which  are  attainable  in  the  symphony;  conse- 
quently the  arts  of  counterpoint  and  thematic  develop- 
ment come  prominently  forward.  The  counterpoint  is  not 
strict,  for  the  parts  are  not  of  exactly  equal  importance. 
On  the  other  hand  the  quartet  must  not  be  a  mere  violin 
solo  with  accompaniment.  Between  these  two  dangers 
the  quartet  writer  must  steer  his  way,  giving  each  part 
flexibility  and  ease,  and  making  science  subservient  to 
melodic  and  rhythmic  freedom.  These  artistic  prin- 
ciples, which  are  now  the  basis  of  good  quartet  writing, 
were  first  completely  established  by  Haydn. 

For  the  string  quartet  and  Haydn's  works  in  that  form  :  Oxford 
History  of  Music,  vol.  v ;  Grove's  Dictionary,  article  Quartet ;  Jahn, 
Life  of  Mozart,  vol.  i,  p.  309,  vol.  ii,  pp.  1-3,  6-9  ;  Famous  Com- 
posers and  their  Works,  series  i,  article  Haydn.    Selected  quartets 


158    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


should  be  carefully  studied;  they  may  be  procured  in  Payne's 
"  Kleine  Partitur  Ausgabe." 

The  cause  of  the  rapid  development  of  instrumental 
music  in  South  Germany  and  Austria  was  undoubtedly 
the  love  of  music  among  the  common  people.  Village 
bands  flourished ;  out-door  musical  gatherings  were  a 
conspicuous  feature  of  social  life.  Haydn  was  familiar 
with  the  peasant  music  of  Austria  and  Hungary,  and  his 
keen  sympathy  with  the  popular  feeling  led  him  to  per- 
petuate the  spirit  of  this  native  music  in  the  higher 
forms  of  art.  His  extraordinary  instinct  for  form  and 
his  scientific  knowledge,  gained  by  unwearied  private 
study,  did  the  rest.  His  symphonies  and  chamber  works 
have  therefore  a  twofold  source,  viz.  an  aristocratic 
(the  Italian  overture  and  chamber  music)  and  a  popular 
(the  naive  music  of  the  common  people).  The  dance 
influence  is  seen  in  the  sharpness  and  elasticity  of  his 
rhythms,  and  the  cheerfulness  and  energy  of  his  melody, 
often  running  into  a  frolic  humor. 

The  new  method  of  treatment  of  the  instruments  in 
the  orchestra  is  almost  as  important  a  detail  in  the 
history  of  music  in  Haydn's  period  as  the  establishment 
of  the  form.  Modern  orchestration  dates  from  the  time  of 
Haydn.  The  system,  or  lack  of  system,  in  the  usage 
of  Bach  and  Handel  gave  way  to  the  principle  by  which 
the  quartet  of  strings  sustained  the  main  harmony  and 
melody,  and  the  wood-wind  and  brass  were  set  free  and 
treated  in  obligato  fashion.  The  tone  color  is  ready  to 
change  at  any  moment,  contrary  to  the  rigidity  of  com- 
bination in  the  older  music.  Any  instrument  may  lead 
in  the  melody,  the  themes  being  passed  from  one  to 


JOSEPH  HAYDN,  1732-1809 


159 


another.  The  grouping  of  the  wind  instruments  is  by 
twos.  The  relationship  of  brass  to  strings  in  the 
symphony  orchestra  of  the  classic  period  is  once  for 
all  settled.  In  spite  of  the  vast  enrichment  of  tone 
and  the  multiplication  of  effects  which  we  find  among 
the  modern  romantic  composers,  the  essential  principles 
of  Haydn's  orchestration  have  not  been  altered. 

For  Haydn's  orchestration:  Oxford  History  of  Music,  vol.  v; 
Famous  Composers  and  their  Works,  series  i,  article  Haydn ;  Hen- 
derson, The  Orchestra  and  Orchestral  Music.  The  student  may  prop- 
erly at  this  point  begin  his  study  of  the  capacities  and  treatment  of 
orchestral  instruments  and  the  construction  of  the  modern  orches- 
tra. Among  the  books  especially  valuable  are  Lavignac,  Music 
and  Musicians;  Famous  Composers  and  their  Works,  series  ii 
(article  by  Elson);  Prout,  Orchestration;  Henderson,  The  Orches- 
tra and  Orchestral  Music  ;  also  Grove's  Dictionary,  articles  Orchestra, 
Orchestration. 

The  relation  of  Haydn  to  the  Esterhazy  family 
suggests  one  of  the  most  interesting  phases  of  the 
musical  life  of  the  time.  Before  the  establishment  of  a 
public  concert  system  and  the  musical  publishing  busi- 
ness of  the  present  day,  musicians  derived  their  sub- 
sistence from  the  patronage  of  the  aristocracy.  Titled 
and  wealthy  families  maintained  private  musical  es- 
tablishments, monopolizing  the  services  of  composers 
and  performers.  The  princely  courts  were  so  numerous 
that  a  large  number  of  the  best  musicians  of  the  time 
were  thus  employed.  Their  business  was  to  furnish 
music  for  the  entertainment  of  their  patrons.  Their 
social  position  in  most  cases  was  hardly  above  that  of 
the  house  servants.  This  patronage  of  the  nobility  was 
necessary  to  the  progress  of  secular  music  in  the  seven- 


160    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


teenth  and  eighteenth  centuries.  The  chief  disadvan- 
tage of  this  system  lay  in  the  fact  that  it  tended  to 
repress  the  originality  of  composers  by  compelling  them 
to  cater  to  the  tastes  of  their  employers,  who  were 
usually  uneducated  in  music  and  who  cared  not  for  the 
higher  development  of  the  art  but  only  for  temporary 
entertainment.  The  benefits  undoubtedly  outweighed 
the  drawbacks,  for  composers  and  players  were  given 
opportunity  for  constant  practice,  and  a  body  of 
musicians  was  trained  for  larger  service  when  in  course 
of  time  the  princely  courts  should  be  broken  up. 

Haydn's  oratorio,  the  "  Creation, "  has  done  as  much  to 
perpetuate  his  name  as  his  instrumental  works.  It  vies 
in  popularity  with  Handel's  "  Messiah  "  and  Mendels- 
sohn's "  Elijah."  It  was  the  outcome  of  Haydn's  ac- 
quaintance with  the  works  of  Handel  in  London.  The 
influence  of  Handel  is  apparent  in  the  choruses.  The 
preponderance  of  arias  shows  the  connection  of  Haydn's 
work  with  the  Italian  concert  oratorio,  which  was  much 
in  vogue  in  Vienna.  The  popularity  of  the  "  Creation  " 
is  due  to  the  remarkable  freshness  and  charm  of  its 
melody,  and  the  spontaneity  and  artlessness  which  per- 
vade it.  The  love  of  idyllic  scenes  and  the  musical  "paint- 
ing "  of  the  sights  and  sounds  of  nature  are  characteristic 
of  the  taste  of  the  period,  and  the  naive  realism  of  much 
of  Haydn's  music  had,  at  the  time  of  its  composition,  prob- 
ably nothing  of  the  grotesque  effect  which  it  occasionally 
produces  upon  modern  ears.  The  strongest  parts  of  the 
oratorio  are  the  first  and  second;  the  love  passages  of 
Adam  and  Eve  in  the  third  part  are  generally  considered 
tedious  and  insipid.    The  "  Seasons,"  Haydn's  last  im- 


JOSEPH  HAYDN,  1732-1809 


1G1 


portant  work,  has  much  of  the  naturalness  and  charm  of 
the  "  Creation,"  but  it  reveals  on  the  whole  a  decline  in 
the  composer's  invention. 

Oxford  History  of  Music,  vol.  v;  Grove's  Dictionary,  article 
Oratorio ;  Famous  Composers  and  their  Works,  series  i,  article 
Haydn ;  Upton,  The  Standard  Oratorios ;  Runciman,  Old  Scores 
and  New  Readings. 

Haydn's  masses  are  frequently  used  in  the  Catholic 
worship.  They  are  full  of  beauties  and  must  be  con- 
sidered in  making  up  an  estimate  of  Haydn's  genius. 
They  are  condemned  by  the  stricter  churchmen  on 
account  of  their  frequent  lightness  and  brilliancy. 
Nevertheless  they  are  far  above  the  general  level  of 
Austrian  church  music  of  the  time.  There  is  no  ques- 
tion that  Haydn  was  a  deeply  religious  man;  but  it 
would  not  be  in  accordance  with  his  nature  to  attempt 
a  reform  in  church  music.  The  style  of  his  masses  is 
simply  the  outflow  of  the  sunny,  optimistic  nature  of 
the  man,  which  gives  to  all  his  music  its  characteristic 
charm. 

Oxford  History  of  Music,  vol.  v,  chap.  6.  Editions  are  published 
by  Ditson,  Novello  and  others. 


XXV 


WOLFGANG  AMADE  MOZART,  1756-1791 

PRINCIPAL  WORKS.  —  Vocal:  16  masses;  mis- 
cellaneous  church  compositions ;  21  operas,  operettas  and 
dramatic  pieces;  arias,  trios,  quartets,  choruses  with 
accompaniment  of  orchestral  instruments;  about  forty 
songs  for  one  or  more  voices  with  piano  accompaniment. 

Instrumental:  Jfl  symphonies;  28  serenades,  etc.,  for 
orchestra;  marches,  dance  tunes,  symphonic  movements 
and  minor  pieces  for  orchestra ;  concertos  for  stringed 
or  wind  instruments  and  orchestra ;  31  string  quartets ; 
9  string  quintets ;  28  concertos  for  one  or  two  pianos 
and  orchestra ;  11  piano  quintets,  quartets  and  trios ; 
4,6  sonatas  and  variations  for  piano  and  violin  ;  21  piano 
sonatas  and  fantasias  ;  sets  of  variations  and  minor  pieces 
for  piano, 

Mozart  worked  in  every  field  known  to  his  time,  but 
so  far  as  actual  advance  in  the  historic  development  of 
music  is  concerned  his  significance  lies  in  the  symphony 
and  its  allied  forms,  the  piano  concerto,  the  opera  and  to 
a  less  extent  in  church  music  (the  "Requiem").  His 
works  are  often  cited  as  the  most  perfect  illustrations  of 
the  classic  idea  in  music,  —  this  term  referring  in  a 
general  way  to  the  absence  of  individualism  in  con- 
formity to  a  general  type  of  style  and  form,  naivete  as 
opposed  to   self-consciousness,  symmetry  of  outline, 


WOLFGANG  AMAUE  MOZART,  1756-1791  1G3 


highest  finish  of  detail,  purity  of  sound,  loftiness  and 
serenity  of  mood.  Abstract,  objective  beauty  is  the 
aim  rather  than  the  license  that  results  from  arbitrary 
self-expression.  Mozart's  best  work  is  marked  by  fault- 
less grace  of  melodic  line  and  consummate  knowledge  in 
structure  ;  it  thus  becomes  monumental,  detached  from 
all  influences  that  are  temporary  or  personally  eccentric. 
This  characterization  applies  chiefly  to  his  instrumental 
works;  the  larger  scope  of  expression  in  his  operas  is 
due  to  the  necessity  of  portraying  the  temperaments 
and  motives  of  imagined  characters.  In  his  best  operas, 
therefore,  he  is  greatest  because  modern  and  universal. 
His  instrumental  works  satisfy  only  those  whose  sym- 
pathies are  with  the  classic  methods  and  principles. 

Mozart  is  the  most  complete  illustration  in  music 
history  of  the  sensitive,  spontaneous  musical  tempera- 
ment. To  an  unsurpassed  musical  instinct,  apparently 
inborn,  he  added  a  supreme  mastery  of  the  musical 
science  of  his  day.  He  was  eminent  in  vocal  and  in- 
strumental music,  the  common  bond  between  these  two 
departments  being  the  Italian  eighteenth-century  type  of 
melody,  which  he  brought  to  its  highest  beauty.  His 
art  was  restricted  on  the  side  of  subject  and  expression, 
but  perfect  within  the  actual  range  of  his  ideas.  To 
Italian  melody  he  gave  a  substructure  of  Teutonic 
learning  and  seriousness,  although  the  more  obvious 
qualities  of  his  art  are  Italian  rather  than  German.  He 
gave  the  final  stamp  of  elegance  and  restrained  dignity 
to  eighteenth-century  musical  art,  and  completed  the 
epoch  that  preceded  the  revolutionary  attacks  of  Bee- 
thoven and  his  successors. 


164     THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


The  formative  influences  of  Mozart's  early  life  are 
the  instruction  of  his  father,  an  able  violinist  and  his 
only  teacher,  at  Salzburg,  experience  in  the  archbishop's 
meagre  orchestra  and  visits  to  Paris  and  Italy.  Of  ex- 
traordinary precocity  as  pianist  and  violinist,  as  well  as 
composer,  his  concert  tours  in  Austria,  France,  Holland 
and  England  (1762-1766)  excited  universal  astonish- 
ment. His  first  published  compositions  belong  to  1763. 
His  first  opera  was  written  at  the  age  of  twelve ;  the 
song-play  "Bastien  und  Bastienne,"  of  the  same  year, 
still  holds  the  stage.  He  became  fully  acquainted 
with  the  Italian  opera  during  a  visit  to  Italy  in  1769. 
His  first  important  opera  seria  was  "  Mitridate  re  di 
Ponto"  (1770).  He  was  constantly  hampered  by  ad- 
verse conditions  in  Salzburg,  and  his  position  at  the 
court  of  the  archbishop  was  little  better  than  slavery. 
The  Salzburg  period  was  marked  chiefly  by  church  and 
instrumental  compositions.  "Idomeneo"  (1781)  was 
the  first  real  revelation  of  his  dramatic  genius.  Break- 
ing loose  from  his  bondage  to  the  archbishop  of  Salzburg, 
he  took  up  his  permanent  abode  in  Vienna  in  1781.  Here 
began  a  time  of  bitter  struggle  which  ended  only  with 
his  death.  Although  a  composer  at  that  period  was 
dependent  upon  patronage,  Mozart  never  obtained  a 
permanent  situation,  and  lucrative  commissions  were 
rare.  Poverty  and  hardship  wore  out  his  strength  and 
he  was  buried  in  a  pauper's  grave. 

Biography :  Otto  Jahn's  Life  of  Mozart  in  three  volumes  leads 
all  the  rest,  and  in  many  respects  is  the  most  perfect  specimen  of 
critical  biographical  writing  in  the  whole  field  of  music  history ; 
English  translation  by  Pauline  D.  Townsend.   Briefer  biographies 


WOLFGANG  AMADE  MOZART,  1756-1791  165 


by  good  authorities:  Holmes,  Life  of  Mozart;  Gehring,  Life  of 
Mozart  {Great  Musicians  series);  Famous  Composers  and  their 
Works,  series  i,  article  Mozart;  Grove's  Dictionary,  article  Mozart; 
Naumann,  History  of  Music.  There  is  a  translation  of  Mozart's 
letters  by  Lady  Wallace  in  two  volumes.  The  Mozart  supplement 
to  the  London  Musical  Times,  December,  1891,  contains  interesting 
details  and  woodcuts.  A  complete  catalogue  of  works  is  given  in 
Jahn's  Life  of  Mozart.  The  character  of  Mozart  as  man  and  artist 
is  discussed  with  justice  and  moderation  by  Jahn. 

Mozart's  instrumental  works  invite  comparison  with 
those  of  Haydn.  Mozart's  genius  developed  so  rapidly 
that  in  the  six  string  quartets  (1782-85),  dedicated  to 
Haydn,  he  surpasses  his  friend  and  model.  Haydn,  in 
turn,  learned  much  from  Mozart,  especially  in  symphony. 
The  six  quartets  are  noted  for  fulness  and  richness  of 
form,  charm  of  melody  and  technical  mastery. 

Mozart's  piano  sonatas,  although  distinguished  for 
roundness  of  form,  are  much  more  dry  melodically  than 
his  other  works.  This  is  probably  due  to  the  limitations 
of  the  instrument  for  which  they  were  written.  Mozart 
required  the  sustaining  powers  of  the  voice  and  orches- 
tral instruments.  The  concertos  for  piano  and  orchestra 
take  a  much  higher  place.  His  readjustment  of  the  old 
relations  of  the  solo  instrument  to  the  orchestra,  and  his 
expansion  of  the  function  of  the  former  make  him  the 
virtual  founder  of  the  modern  concerto. 

Mozart's  fame  as  a  symphonist  rests  on  his  last  three 
symphonies  in  E  flat,  G  minor  and  C  major  ("  Jupiter  "), 
all  written  in  1788.  A  feeling  for  individuality  of  style 
will  be  found  in  these  three  symphonies ;  they  surpass 
Haydn's  in  depth  of  expression,  power  of  development, 
tonal  beauty  and  freedom  of  the  instruments.    In  this 


166    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


latter  respect  he  advanced  the  art  of  orchestration.  Es- 
pecial attention  is  drawn  to  the  andante  of  the  E  flat 
symphony  and  the  first  movement  and  the  finale  of  the 
"Jupiter,"  the  latter  movement  being  the  climax  of 
Mozart's  achievement  in  orchestral  writing. 

All  of  Mozart's  chief  instrumental  works  are  analyzed  and  ably 
criticised  by  Jahn  in  his  Life  of  Mozart.  See  also  Grove's  Dic- 
tionary, articles  Mozart,  Symphony,  Sonata,  Quartet,  Concerto,  Form; 
Bie,  History  of  the  Pianoforte  and  Pianoforte  Players;  Shedlock,  The 
Pianoforte  Sonata  (an  excellent  work)  ;  Oxford  History  of  Music, 
vol.  v;  Parry,  The  Evolution  of  the  Art  of  Music;  Upton,  The 
Standard  Symphonies ;  Henderson,  The  Orchestra  and  Orchestral 
Music  ;  Statliam,  My  Thoughts  on  Music  and  Musicians  (an  excellent 
critical  study  from  a  conservative  standpoint)  ;  Mason,  Beethoven 
and  his  Forerunners;  Weitzmann,  History  of  Pianoforte  Playing; 
Fillmore,  History  of  Pianoforte  Music.  For  Mozart's  style  of  play- 
ing, Jahn's  Life  of  Mozart. 

Mozart's  principal  symphonies  (full  score  and  piano  arrange- 
ments), quartets,  concertos,  sonatas,  etc.,  are  published  in  inex- 
pensive German  editions. 

Mozart's  most  important  and  original  contribution  to 
musical  art  was  in  his  later  operas, "  Le  Nozze  di  Figaro," 
"  Don  Giovanni "  and  "  Die  Zauberflote."  These  are 
the  most  important  works  of  their  class  produced  in  the 
eighteenth  century,  and  in  sheer  musical  value  far  sur- 
pass Gluck's  operas.  They  were  never  more  studied  and 
admired  than  at  the  present  day.  The  first  two  are 
Italian,  and,  although  the  offshoot  of  the  opera  buffa, 
they  really  form  a  new  genre,  in  which  serious  elements 
are  mingled  with  comic,  and  human  character  is  portrayed 
in  its  more  constant  aspects,  as  in  the  higher  type  of 
French  ope*ra-comique.  They  mark  the  highest  reach 
of  Italian  cantilena  as  applied  to  dramatic  purposes. 


WOLFGANG  AMADE  MOZART,  1756-1791  167 


They  reveal  also  the  result  of  Gluck's  influence  in 
the  importance  they  assign  to  poetic  truth  and  natural 
action,  and  unite  the  chief  excellences  of  the  Italian  and 
the  French  schools. 

Mozart's  genius  is  brilliantly  exhibited  in  "  Le  Nozze 
di  Figaro  "  (1786),  not  only  in  the  marvellous  wealth  of 
melody,  but  still  more  in  the  keen  discrimination  of  char- 
acter and  the  appropriateness  of  music  to  the  situation. 
Every  trait  in  character  and  motive  is  seized  upon  with 
unfailing  skill  and  set  forth  with  the  most  exquisite 
refinement.  Especial  attention  must  be  drawn  to 
Mozart's  mastery  of  science  and  the  sure  control  of  all 
the  dramatic  threads  in  the  complicated  finales.  The 
fulness  and  flexibility  of  the  orchestral  parts  was  a  new 
feature  in  Italian  opera. 

Similar  qualities  are  found  in  "  Don  Giovanni "  (1787), 
with  superiority  to  "  Figaro "  in  dramatic  variety  and 
poetic  and  moral  force.  The  difficulty  in  the  treatment 
of  a  depraved  and  odious  hero  is  surmounted  by  Mozart 
by  emphasizing  his  energy  and  bravery.  The  climax  of 
the  work  shows  a  new  side  of  Mozart's  dramatic  genius 
in  his  ability  to  deal  with  passionate  and  tragic  situations. 
The  whole  work  is  a  masterpiece  of  characterization, 
and  should  be  studied  from  that  point  of  view.  Occa- 
sional inconsistencies  are  caused  by  the  supposed  neces- 
sity of  considering  the  reigning  taste  for  the  trivialities 
of  the  declining  Italian  opera. 

Mozart's  unsurpassed  strength  lies  in  character  draw- 
ing, with  the  Italian  cantilena  as  his  medium.  Such 
personalities  as  Cherubino,  Leporello,  Don  Giovanni 
and  Donna  Anna  have   few  rivals  in  opera  history 


168    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


for  strongly  marked  individuality,  distinctness  and 
charm. 

Mozart's  last  opera,  "Die  Zauberflote "  (1791),  is  less 
valuable  musically  than  61  Figaro  "  and  "  Don  Giovanni," 
but  has  great  historic  interest  from  the  fact  that  its  text 
is  German,  influences  of  the  German  Lied  are  seen,  and 
its  subject  and  treatment  prefigure  the  nineteenth-cen- 
tury school  of  German  romantic  opera.  The  new  tend- 
ency in  German  art  had  already  been  hinted  by  Mozart's 
"  Die  Entfuhrung  aus  dem  Serail "  (1782).  Both  these 
operas,  besides  being  set  to  German  texts,  contain 
spoken  dialogue,  and  thus  betray  their  origin  in  the 
German  Singspiel  (see  chap,  xxvii).  The  fantastic  plot 
of  "  Die  Zauberflote,"  which  at  first  seems  weak  and 
foolish,  can  be  understood  only  as  a  symbolic  glorifica- 
tion of  freemasonry,  the  meaning  of  the  rites  at  the 
temple  of  Isis  being  apparent  to  the  initiated.  With 
much  that  is  now  out  of  date,  the  opera  contains  noble 
characters  and  effective  situations ;  the  work  is  pervaded 
by  the  impression  drawn  from  its  one  elevated  conception. 

The  three  chief  operas  of  Mozart  have  called  forth  a  great  mass 
of  commentary.  The  most  minute  analysis  of  librettos  and  music 
is  that  of  Jahn  in  his  Life  of  Mozart.  Valuable  discussions  of 
these  works  and  of  Mozart's  place  in  the  history  of  opera  may  be 
found  in  Apthorp,  The  Opera,  Past  and  Present;  Statham,  My 
Thoughts  on  Music  and  Musicians  ;  Parry,  The  Evolution  of  the  Art 
of  Music,  chap.  10 ;  Wagner,  Prose  Works :  Opera  and  Drama, 
translated  by  Ellis;  Naumann,  History  of  Music;  Famous  Com- 
posers and  their  Works,  article  Mozart;  Grove's  Dictionary,  article 
Opera;  Oxford  History  of  Music,  vol.  v;  Henderson,  How  Music 
Developed.  See  also  Vernon  Lee,  Belcaro:  Cherubino  ;  Runciman, 
Old  Scores  and  New  Readings;  Streatfeild,  The  Opera;  plots  in 
Upton,  The  Standard  Operas,  and  Annesley,  The  Standard  Opera 
Glass. 


WOLFGANG  AMADE  MOZART,  175G-1791  169 


Vocal  and  piano  scores  of  these  operas  are  published  by 
Novello.  For  the  relation  of  "  Die  Zauberfldte  "  to  freemasonry 
see  preface  to  Novello's  edition  and  Jahn's  Life  of  Mozart. 

Mozart's  last  work,  the  u  Requiem  Mass,"  was  left  unfin- 
ished, and  was  completed  by  Sussmayr.  A  romantic 
interest  has  been  given  to  this  work  by  the  mys- 
terious circumstances  attending  its  inception.  The 
precise  amount  of  the  actual  work  of  Mozart  which  it 
contains  was  long  a  matter  of  doubt.  The  portion  fol- 
lowing the  Dies  Irae  is  essentially  the  work  of  Sussmayr. 
The  "Requiem  "  as  a  whole  rises  far  above  all  Mozart's 
other  church  works,  since  these  were  written  in  early 
years  to  suit  the  taste  prevailing  at  the  Salzburg  archi- 
episcopal  court.  The  Rex  tr emend ae,  Recordare,  Confu- 
tatis  and  Lacrymosa  are  among  the  noblest  compositions 
in  the  whole  range  of  Catholic  church  music,  and  will 
repay  careful  study.  Other  parts  show  some  influence 
of  the  formalism  of  the  time  in  religious  music. 

Jahn,  Life  of  Mozart ;  Pole,  The  Story  of  Mozart's  Requiem; 
Grove's  Dictionary,  article  Requiem.    Also  books  cited  above. 

"  Mozart  first  raised  music  to  an  international  speech, 
since  in  his  masterpieces  are  combined  German  polyph- 
ony, Italian  melody  and  French  rhythm:  in  other 
words,  German  depth,  Italian  beauty  and  French  truth 
to  nature.  Mozart's  style  is  not  simply  eclectic,  but 
flows  undivided  and  complete  out  of  the  master's  inmost 
personality,  in  which  German  and  Romanic  elements 
mingle  in  the  happiest  manner.  It  is  particularly  the 
extraordinary  sense  of  beauty  that  affixes  its  stamp  to 
all  his  works.    It  reveals  itself  particularly  in  his  glori- 


170    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


ous  melodies.  Melody,  not  only  in  song,  but  also  in 
instrumental  music,  attains  to  the  highest  and  most 
beautiful  unfolding.  Up  to  his  time,  in  the  instru- 
mental music,  even  of  the  best  masters,  in  spite  of 
formal  finish  and  original  invention,  there  was  some- 
thing lacking,  viz.  the  essential  songfulness  of  the 
instrumental  melody,  the  cantabile.  This  was  given  to 
it  first  by  Mozart.  He  taught  the  instruments  to  sing. 
Mozart  did  not  create  new  forms,  but  he  penetrated 
them  all  with  his  spirit,  —  the  spirit  of  beauty  and 
purity  of  sound. 

"  In  the  works  of  Mozart,  modern  music  stands  ready. 
All  that  is  rudimentary  and  incomplete  is  shorn  away, 
and  the  pure  art  of  tones  stands  adorned  in  perfect 
beauty.  To  build  it  up  on  all  sides,  and  to  enrich  it 
with  all  the  appliances  of  technical  and  emotional  effect, 
was  the  task  of  the  nineteenth  century."  (Merian,  Ge- 
schichte  der  Musik  im  neunzehnten  Jahrhundert,  p.  255.) 


XXVI 


LUDWIG  VAN  BEETHOVEN,  1770-1827 

PRINCIPAL  WORKS.  — Instrumental:  9  sympho- 
nies ;  9  overtures  ;  2  octets  ;  1  septet ;  2  string  quintets; 
16  string  quartets;  5  string  trios  ;  8  trios  for  piano  and 
strings  ;  1  concerto  for  violin  and  orchestra  ;  5  concertos 
for  piano  and  orchestra  ;  10  sonatas  for  piano  and  violin  ; 
5  sonatas  for  piano  and  violoncello ;  32  piano  sonatas ; 
21  sets  of  variations  for  piano  ;  miscellaneous  piano  com- 
positions, —  bagatelles,  rondos,  waltzes,  etc. 

Vocal :  2  masses ;  1  oratorio,  "  Christ  on  the  Mount 
of  Olives " ;  1  opera,  "  Fidelio " ;  cantatas,  choruses, 
etc.  ;  66  songs  for  solo  voice  and  piano ;  7  books  of 
English,  Scotch,  Irish,  Welsh  and  Italian  songs  for 
voice,  piano,  violin  and  violoncello. 

The  commanding  position  which  Beethoven  holds  in 
the  history  of  art  cannot  be  stated  in  a  single  formula. 
He  does  not  belong  wholly  either  to  the  eighteenth  or 
the  nineteenth  century,  but  in  his  works  of  different 
periods  can  be  found  the  controlling  ideas  of  both.  In 
some  of  his  works  there  is  conformity  to  a  type,  in 
others  a  defiant  assertion  of  individualism.  The  classic 
sonata  form  (symphony,  quartet,  solo  sonata,  etc.), 
based  upon  a  succession  of  related  movements,  con- 
trasted subjects  and  theme  development,  attained  in 


172    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


him  its  complete  maturity  in  outline  and  contents.  In 
his  later  sonatas  and  quartets  the  idea  of  progressive 
development  of  movement  under  stated  logical  laws 
seems  about  to  give  way  to  the  idea  of  more  concen- 
trated and  direct  expression  by  means  of  emphasis  on 
semi-independent  sections  and  details,  thus  prefiguring 
later  methods.  He  first  revealed  the  full  possibilities  of 
the  sonata  form  as  a  means  of  characteristic,  as  distinct 
from  general  expression.  In  mastery  of  form  and 
affluence  of  invention  he  holds  a  place  among  the 
foremost  creative  intellects  in  the  history  of  art.  The 
most  powerful  currents  in  nineteenth-century  music 
(the  romanticism  of  Schumann,  Liszt,  Berlioz ;  the 
Wagnerian  music  drama)  to  a  large  extent  take  their 
point  of  departure  from  Beethoven.  No  one  disputes 
his  pre-eminence  as  sonata  and  symphony  writer.  In 
these  two  departments  he  completes  the  movements  of 
the  eighteenth  century  in  the  development  of  the  cycli- 
cal homophonic  form,  and  is  the  first  and  greatest 
exponent  of  that  principle  of  individualism  which  has 
given  the  later  instrumental  music  its  typical  character. 
He  must  always  be  studied  in  the  fight  of  this  double 
significance. 

Such  achievements  are  possible  only  when  the  artist 
is  allowed  to  develop  in  freedom,  and  here  Beethoven's 
circumstances  aided  his  natural  self-assertiveness.  Dur- 
ing Beethoven's  life  musicians  began  to  become  inde- 
pendent of  salaried  positions.  The  epoch  of  aristocratic 
patronage  was  giving  way  to  the  patronage  of  the  general 
public.  The  expansion  of  the  concert  system,  and  the 
growth  of  the  great  publishing  houses  and  a  private 


LUDWIG  VAN  BEETHOVEN,  1770-1827 


173 


clientele  for  teachers  were  important  features  in  the 
conditions  at  Vienna  which  favored  Beethoven.  Of 
humble  birth  at  Bonn,  he  found  friends  and  good 
teachers,  became  a  skilful  pianist  and  acquired  practical 
knowledge  of  the  orchestra  as  violinist  in  the  elector's 
band.  He  went  to  Vienna  in  1792  for  the  sake  of  lessons 
from  Haydn,  but  was  soon  thrown  upon  his  own  re- 
sources. He  received  substantial  encouragement  from 
many  noble  families  (witness  the  dedications  of  his 
works).  A  pension,  which  was  finally  withdrawn, 
aided  him  in  establishing  his  position,  but  involved  no 
stated  obligations  on  his  side.  The  interest  in  his 
biography  centres  largely  in  his  friendships,  by  which, 
however,  he  was  never  hampered  in  his  self-assertion. 

Beethoven  attracted  attention  first  by  the  force  and 
magnetism  of  his  piano  playing,  especially  in  improvis- 
ing. In  general  he  was  appreciated  and  encouraged  as 
a  composer.  His  development  at  last  outran  the  taste 
of  the  public  ;  he  was  thrown  more  and  more  back  upon 
himself  by  reason  of  the  difficulties  of  performance  and 
comprehension  which  his  later  works  presented,  the 
impoverishment  of  patrons,  ill  health  and  the  deaf- 
ness which  at  last  became  complete. 

The  essential  solitariness  of  Beethoven  is  a  factor  in 
the  explanation  of  his  work.  He  was  devoted  to  his 
art  ideals  rather  than  to  worldly  success.  He  was 
absolutely  uncompromising  with  himself,  his  art  and 
public  taste.  His  suspicious  nature,  outbursts  of  tem- 
per and  personal  eccentricities  have  been  dwelt  on  to 
excess  by  biographers,  but  they  need  receive  only  passing 
attention  from  the  student.    His  character,  as  revealed 


174    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


by  his  letters  and  recorded  conversations,  was  absolutely 
pure,  and  his  artistic  life  was  actuated  by  the  loftiest 
motives.  The  effect  of  his  deafness  upon  the  character 
of  his  music  affords  merely  an  interesting  speculation ; 
this  effect  was  probably  indirect,  involving  a  more  com- 
plete self-detachment  and  tendency  to  subjective  brood- 
ing. He  yielded  completely  to  the  impulse  to  shape  his 
work  according  to  his  own  inner  necessity,  regardless 
of  external  enticements. 

The  study  of  Beethoven  also  includes  his  qualities  as 
pianist,  conductor  and  teacher,  and  his  methods  of 
composition. 

Strange  to  say,  there  is  no  satisfactory  critical  biography  of 
Beethoven  in  English.  The  biography  by  A.  W.  Thayer,  written 
but  not  published  in  English,  then  published  in  a  German  transla- 
tion, is  very  full,  and  the  court  of  final  resort  in  regard  to  the  facts 
of  Beethoven's  life  down  to  1816.  This  work  was  left  unfinished 
at  the  author's  death. 

For  biographical  data  in  English  the  student  is  referred  to  the 
standard  histories ;  Schindler,  Life  of  Beethoven,  edited  by  Moscheles 
(both  personal  acquaintances  of  Beethoven),  gives  valuable  first- 
hand information,  contains  also  letters  by  Beethoven,  and  remi- 
niscences by  Wegeler,  Ries,  Dohring  and  others  ;  Rudall,  Beethoven 
(Great  Musicians  series);  Graeme,  Beethoven,  A  Memoir;  Grove's 
Dictionary,  article  Beethoven;  Famous  Composers  and  their  Works, 
series  i,  three  articles  ;  Moscheles,  Recent  Music  and  Musicians 
(personal  reminiscences)  ;  Beethoven  number  of  the  London  Mu- 
sical Times,  December  15,  1892  ;  Beethoven"1 s  Letters,  translated 
by  Lady  Wallace.  Catalogue  of  works  in  Grove's  Dictionary, 
Rudall's  Beethoven  and  Graeme's  Beethoven  (the  latter  giving  dates 
of  publication). 

Beethoven's  note  books  have  been  published  by  Nottebohm  (not 
translated).    See  also  Grove's  Dictionary,  article  Sketches. 

The  problems  involved  in  the  study  of  Beethoven's 
works  are  (1)  their  technical  structure,  —  form,  har- 


LUDWIG  VAN  BEETHOVEN,  1770-1827 


175 


mony,  instrumentation,  etc.,  especially  as  compared  with 
the  work  of  preceding  composers ;  (2)  the  struggle  to 
adapt  the  sonata  form  to  higher  needs  of  individual 
expression ;  (3)  his  relation  to  certain  guiding  currents 
in  musical  art  of  the  nineteenth  century,  especially  that 
effort  for  a  more  definite  expression  which  has  issued  in 
the  works  of  the  "  programme  "  school. 

The  most  obvious  comparison  in  Beethoven's  forma- 
tive period  is  with  Haydn  and  Mozart,  taken  simply  as 
representatives  of  a  style  universally  prevailing.  We 
see  first  a  powerful  mind  moving  in  the  established 
channels;  earnestness  and  moderation  are  the  notice- 
able traits,  with  a  frequent  tendency  to  break  over  the 
bounds  of  formalism.  Such  works  as  the  early  trios, 
the  quartets  Op.  18,  the  septet,  the  sonatas  Op.  2  to  Op. 
10  and  Op.  14  and  22,  and  the  first  two  symphonies  may 
be  taken  as  works  in  which  Beethoven  conforms  essen- 
tially to  the  traditional  type  of  form  and  expression.  An 
unprecedented  depth  of  expression  is  felt,  however,  in 
the  slow  movements  of  the  sonatas  Op.  7  and  Op.  10, 
No.  3.  A  significant  change  of  form  is  shown  in  the  first 
movement  of  the  sonata  Op.  13. 

Beethoven's  complete  mastery  of  his  art,  the  perfect 
balance  of  his  faculties  of  conception  and  expression,  is 
to  be  seen  in  the  works  written  (generally  speaking) 
between  his  thirtieth  and  forty-fourth  years,  which  in- 
clude the  symphonies  No.  3  to  No.  8,  the  sonatas  Op. 
26  to  Op.  90,  the  quartets  Op.  59  to  Op.  95,  the  last  two 
piano  concertos,  the  violin  concerto,  the  trio  Op.  97  and 
the  opera  "  Fidelio,"  with  its  four  overtures.  The  study 
of  these  works  centres  upon  the  art  of  theme  develop- 


176    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


ment,  in  which  Beethoven  towers  above  all  other  com- 
posers. There  is  no  fuller  illustration  of  Beethoven's 
mastership  in  this  art  than  the  first  movement  of  the 
third  symphony,  which  should  be  thoroughly  analyzed. 
The  tendency  grew  to  employ  more  terse  and  instru- 
mental-like themes,  as  compared  with  the  song-like 
themes  of  Mozart,  and  to  build  up  sections  on  short 
fragments  or  motives  (e.  g.  first  movement  of  the  fifth 
symphony).  The  student  will  note  Beethoven's  ex- 
haustless  ingenuity  in  modification  of  subjects  and  mo- 
tives, the  profusion  of  ideas  obedient  to  the  law  of  unity 
and  proportion ;  the  relation  of  details  and  episodes  to 
the  principal  themes ;  the  concentration  of  style  which 
forbids  waste  space  and  empty  connecting  passages.  In 
Beethoven  the  "principal  form"  reaches  its  ultimate  de- 
velopment by  means  of  the  expansion  of  the  "  working- 
out  "  section  and  the  coda  (examples :  first  movements 
of  the  third  symphony,  and  sonatas  Op.  53  and  57).  The 
earlier  and  the  later  rondo  forms  (see  Prout,  Applied 
Forms)  have  complete  illustrations  in  Beethoven  (e.  g.  last 
movements  of  sonatas  Op.  53  and  22). 

In  Beethoven's  melody  the  Italian  influence  is  seen 
(septet  and  early  works  generally),  profoundly  modified 
and  deepened  in  his  greater  works.  The  immense  en- 
largement of  expression  in  melody  as  compared  with  his 
predecessors  is  perceived  everywhere  in  Beethoven ; 
e.  g.  out  of  hundreds  of  striking  examples  take  the 
themes  of  the  funeral  march  in  the  third  symphony, 
theme  of  the  andante  of  the  Kreutzer  sonata,  slow  move- 
ments of  the  sonatas  Op.  7  and  111,  and  of  the  fifth  and 
seventh  symphonies. 


LUDWIG  VAN  BEETHOVEN,  1770-1827  177 


Equal  advance  is  shown  in  Beethoven's  harmony  in 
its  massiveness  and  richness,  as  well  as  in  his  fondness 
for  abrupt  changes  and  modulations  and  harsh  disso- 
nances. His  works  become  more  and  more  intricate; 
the  effort  increases  to  give  life  and  independence  to 
the  middle  and  lower  parts.  In  many  of  the  later 
works  (quartets  and  sonatas)  the  contrapuntal  tendency 
is  pronounced.  In  this  Beethoven  anticipates  the 
method  of  Wagner,  Brahms  and  other  typical  later 
composers.  Singular  reactions  are  sometimes  found 
(e.g.  sonata  Op.  31,  No.  3;  eighth  symphony). 

Other  signs  of  progress  are  seen  in  the  frequent  aban- 
donment of  the  old  prescribed  key  relations  between 
movements  and  subjects.  Still  more  important  is  the 
great  advance  in  the  element  of  rhythm  —  its  variety 
and  characteristic  effect,  abundance  of  displaced  accents 
and  syncopations. 

The  variation  form  vies  with  the  sonata  form  in 
Beethoven's  regard.  He  uses  it  from  first  to  last,  but 
here  also  his  style  undergoes  the  same  modifications. 
An  interesting  study  is  found  in  the  development  of  this 
form  in  Beethoven.  At  the  beginning  he  uses  essen- 
tially the  plan  of  Haydn  and  Mozart,  in  which  the  mod- 
ifications are  chiefly  confined  to  the  melody  and  the  bass, 
and  the  variation  is  kept  within  the  space  limits  of  the 
theme  (example  in  the  septet).  Beethoven  finally 
extended  the  modification  to  every  element  —  melody, 
harmony,  rhythm,  key,  tempo,  dimension  and  mood. 
This  development  may  be  studied  by  comparing,  for  ex- 
ample, the  sets  of  variations  in  the  septet,  sonatas  Op. 
14,  No.  2,  Op.  26,  Op.  109  and  Op.  Ill,  trio  Op.  97, 

12 


178    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OP  MUSIC 


and  the  symphonies  Nos.  3  (finale),  7  (allegretto)  and  9 
(adagio). 

The  advance  in  the  art  of  orchestration  under  Bee- 
thoven is  no  less  noteworthy.  The  enlargement  of  the 
symphony  orchestra  will  first  be  noticed  in  comparing 
the  scores  of  his  larger  symphonies  with  those  of 
Mozart.  The  clarinet,  rarely  used  by  his  predecessors, 
appears  constantly.  Trombones  are  employed  in  the 
fifth,  sixth  and  ninth  symphonies ;  a  double  bassoon  in 
the  ninth ;  a  piccolo  in  the  fifth  and  ninth ;  in  the  last 
three  movements  of  the  ninth  symphony  there  are  four 
horns.  Beethoven  carried  still  further  the  tendency  in 
Haydn  and  Mozart  toward  greater  movement  in  the 
individual  parts.  He  studied  the  expressive  qualities  of 
each  instrument.  We  speak  of  famous  passages  for  cer- 
tain instruments,  as  the  horn  trio  in  the  scherzo  of  the 
third  symphony,  the  double  bass  passages  in  the  scherzo 
of  the  fifth,  the  extraordinary  effects  produced  by  the 
drums  in  the  fourth  and  fifth.  The  compass  of  the 
strings  is  extended,  their  figures  and  combinations 
varied ;  the  basses  are  no  longer  confined  to  doubling 
the  'cello  parts.  The  progress  in  instrumentation  since 
Beethoven  has  been  chiefly  in  the  treatment  of  the  wood- 
wind and  the  brass.  In  spite  of  the  boldness  and  nov- 
elty of  Beethoven's  orchestration  he  never  allows  the 
delight  in  sound  to  take  precedence  of  the  constructive 
idea.    He  is  greater  as  designer  than  as  colorist. 

The  cyclic  form  has  in  recent  days  been  criticised  on 
the  ground  that  a  scheme  of  three  or  four  movements 
has  no  artistic  justification,  and  is  declared  out  of  date. 
The  question  arises  in  the  case  of  some  of  Beethoven's 


LUDWIG  VAN  BEETHOVEN,  1770-1827  179 


later  works,  Have  the  different  movements  any  poetic 
or  stylistic  relation  to  each  other  ?  Is  there  logical 
development  and  climax  in  the  whole  work  as  well  as  in 
the  separate  movements?  It  is  evident  that  in  the 
works  of  Haydn  and  Mozart,  and  in  many  of  those  of 
Beethoven,  no  emotional  continuity  or  development 
exists.  It  is  often  asserted,  however,  that  in  many  of 
Beethoven's  works  there  is  a  higher  poetic  or  emotional 
unity ;  that  there  is  a  definite  plan  running  through  the 
whole,  such  that  the  separate  movements  of  a  work 
have  a  fitness  where  they  are,  which  they  would  not 
have  if  transferred  to  some  other.  However  this  may 
be,  we  find  that  the  work  as  a  whole  has  often  its  own 
individuality,  —  that  e.  g.  the  fifth  symphony  as  a  whole 
has  a  character  that  sharply  discriminates  it  from  the 
others.  So  with  certain  sonatas  and  quartets.  Cer- 
tainly Beethoven's  development  of  the  form  was  applied 
to  the  work  in  its  entirety  as  well  as  to  the  particular 
"sonata,"  variation  and  rondo  forms.  His  desire  for 
unity  and  proportion  led  him  to  the  enlargement  and 
deepening  of  the  old  minuet  and  finale.  The  climax  is 
often  in  the  last  movement  (fifth  and  seventh  sympho- 
nies, sonatas  Op.  27,  No.  2,  Op.  53  and  many  others), 
whereas  the  older  sonatas,  as  well  as  many  of  Bee- 
thoven's, offer  an  anti-climax.  He  saw  the  insufficiency 
of  the  minuet  in  the  fully  developed  symphony  and 
sonata,  and  substituted  the  scherzo,  which  gives  scope 
for  passion  and  energy  as  well  as  humor  and  gayety. 
The  great  scherzos  of  the  fifth  and  ninth  symphonies 
show  what  he  made  of  this  child  of  his. 

In  his  slow  movements  there  is  shown  the  last  possi- 


180    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


bilities  in  respect  to  melodic  loveliness,  tenderness  and 
pathos.  In  the  feeling  of  many  Beethoven  is  most  of 
all  be}-ond  comparison  in  his  slow  movements  (ex- 
amples: third,  fifth  and  ninth  symphonies,  the  septet, 
B  flat  trio,  quartets  Op.  130  and  Op.  131,  sonatas  Op.  7, 
Op.  27,  No.  2,  Op.  31,  No.  2,  Op.  106). 

Beethoven  is  perhaps  most  remarkable  of  all  in  the 
variety  of  expression  which  his  music  shows.  Among 
his  greater  works  it  may  be  said  that  no  two,  hardly  any 
two  movements,  resemble  each  other  in  themes  or  man- 
ner of  development.  Let  the  student,  for  example,  try 
to  find  anything  remotely  resembling  the  adagio  of  the 
sonata  Op.  27,  No.  2,  or  the  scherzo  of  the  fifth  sym- 
phony, or  the  first  movement  of  the  sonata  Op.  31,  No.  2. 
A  multitude  of  instances  equally  instructive  may  be 
cited. 

Critics  and  biographers  are  fond  of  dividing  Bee- 
thoven's creative  life  into  three  periods.  Such  an  arbi- 
trary division  is  of  no  value.  A  marked  development 
of  style  is  apparent,  but  it  was  irregular  and  reversions 
are  frequent.  In  the  later  works,  especially  the  last 
quartets  and  sonatas,  the  sonata  form  often  seems  about 
to  be  rent  asunder.  The  structure  becomes  intricate, 
even  contrapuntal ;  the  rhythm  more  complex  ;  changes 
of  tempo  and  metre  are  frequent;  orthodox  key  rela- 
tions are  abandoned;  the  expression  becomes  exceedingly 
condensed;  the  emphasis  is  thrown  upon  vividness  and 
contrast  of  detail  rather  than  upon  continuity  of  devel- 
opment ;  clearness  is  often  sacrificed ;  difficulties  of 
comprehension  and  execution  are  vastly  increased. 
These  works  for  a  long  time  baffled  criticism ;  lovers  of 


LUDWIG  VAN  BEETHOVEN,  1770-1827  181 


Beethoven's  earlier  works  were  repelled  by  them.  They 
are  to  be  understood  only  in  the  light  of  subsequent 
musical  developments. 

Among  the  best  critical  studies  of  Beethoven  are  the  following : 
Parry,  The  Evolution  of  the  Art  of  Music,  chap.  12  (a  very  scholarly 
analysis)  ;  Statham,  My  Thoughts  on  Music  and  Musicians  ;  Mason, 
Beethoven  and  his  Forerunners  ;  Bie,  History  of  the  Pianoforte  and 
Pianoforte  Players  ;  Oxford  History  of  Music,  vol.  v;  Famous  Com- 
posers and  their  Works,  article  Beethoven  as  Composer.  See  also 
chapters  in  the  standard  histories ;  Grove's  Dictionary,  articles 
Beethoven,  Symphony,  Sonata,  Form,  Schools,  Variations  ;  Henderson, 
How  M\tsic  Developed  ;  Music  (magazine),  October  and  November, 
1899,  From  Bach  to  Beethoven,  Vincent  D'Indy. 

For  the  symphonies :  Grove,  Beethoven  and  his  Nine  Symphonies 
(an  exhaustive  and  masterly  treatise,  expanded  from  the  author's 
Beethoven's  Nine  Symphonies)  ;  Henderson,  The  Orchestra  and  Or- 
chestral Music  ;  Upton,  The  Standard  Symphonies  ;  Grove's  Diction- 
ary, articles  Symphony,  Orchestration.  Many  illustrations  may  be 
found  in  Prout,  The  Orchestra,  2  vols. 

For  the  sonatas :  Bie,  History  of  the  Pianoforte  and  Pianoforte 
Players ;  Shedlock,  The  Pianoforte  Sonata;  Harding,  Analysis  of 
Form  as  Displayed  in  Beethoven 's  Sonatas ;  Grove's  Dictionary } 
article  Sonata;  Fillmore,  History  of  Pianoforte  Music.  The  stu- 
dent should  carefully  analyze  sonatas  of  Beethoven's  different 
periods.  Aid  is  furnished  by  the  standard  treatises  on  form ;  for 
example,  Prout,  Musical  Form  and  Applied  Forms.  See  also  A. 
Kullak,  Beethoven  s  Piano  Playing. 

The  analytic  study  of  Beethoven  is  chiefly  the  study  of  rhythm 
and  phrasing.  The  most  elaborate  phrased  edition  of  Beethoven's 
sonatas  is  Riemann's,  in  which  a  system  is  employed  that  seems 
over-sophisticated,  but  is  nevertheless  very  instructive. 

The  student  will  find  characteristic  and  in  many  instances 
profound  comments  on  Beethoven  in  Wagner's  Prose  Works 
(Ellis'  translation).  See  especially  the  essay  Beethoven,  passages 
in  Opera  and  Drama  and  the  sketches  written  in  Paris  {Prose 
Works,  vol.  viii).  Valuable  suggestions  in  respect  to  the  proper 
performance  of  Beethoven  in  the  essay  On  Conducting.  This 
essay  and  that  on  Beethoven  have  also  been  translated  by  Dann- 
reuther. 


182     THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


Among  Beethoven's  vocal  works  three  productions 
tower  conspicuously,  viz.  the  opera  "  Fidelio,"  the  "  Mass 
in  D  "  and  the  choral  portion  of  the  ninth  symphony. 
"Fidelio,"  first  produced  in  1805,  is  his  only  opera. 
Four-  overtures  were  written  for  different  performances, 
of  which  that  known  as  the  "  Leonore  overture,  No.  3,"  is 
among  the  most  powerful  of  his  works.  Although  in 
poetic  subject  and  musical  treatment  "  Fidelio "  holds 
an  independent  place  in  opera  history,  it  had  little  or  no 
influence  in  opera  development.  In  the  first  few  num- 
bers the  Mozart  style  is  evident ;  the  work  progresses  to 
a  breadth  and  force  previously  unknown  in  opera.  The 
great  arias  by  the  hero  and  heroine,  the  grave-digging 
scene,  the  prisoners'  chorus  and  the  climax  of  the  plot 
are  the  most  notable  moments.  The  most  striking 
feature  of  the  work  as  a  whole  is  in  the  use  of  the  or- 
chestra to  paint  the  situation  and  carry  the  passion  of 
the  actors  with  the  greatest  intensity  to  the  minds  of  the 
listeners.  Here  Beethoven  the  symphonist  unchains  his 
full  power. 

The  "  Mass  in  D  "  (1818-1822)  is,  with  the  exception 
of  Bach's  "  Mass  in  B  minor,"  the  most  colossal  work  ever 
written  for  the  Catholic  church.  Its  difficulty  and  the 
grandeur  of  its  choral  climaxes  forbid  its  use  in  the  ordi- 
nary church  service.  Like  Bach's  mass  it  defies  imita- 
tion and  represents  no  school.  The  last  movement  of 
the  ninth  symphony  calls  to  mind  Wagner's  opinion  that 
Beethoven,  in  this  work,  showed  that  he  felt  that  the 
limits  of  instrumental  music  had  been  reached,  and  that 
the  further  progress  of  musical  expression  involved  the 
union  of  voices  and  instruments.    The  value  of  this 


LUDWIG  VAN  BEETHOVEN,  1770-1827  183 


opinion  is  not  affected  by  the  fact  that  the  last  move- 
ment of  the  ninth  symphony  is  not  superior  to  Bee- 
thoven's higher  attainments  in  pure  instrumental  music. 
He  was  not  great  as  a  vocal  writer  as  he  was  great  as  an 
instrumentalist.  The  instrumental  mode  of  writing  is 
often  seen  in  his  vocal  music  in  a  style  which  puts  ex- 
cessive demands  upon  the  voices,  even  to  the  extent  of 
overstraining  them  and  marring  their  beauty. 

Famous  Composers  and  their  Works,  articles  on  Beethoven ; 
Oxford  History  of  Music,  vol.  v;  Apthorp,  The  Opera,  Past  and 
Present ;  Grove's  Dictionary,  articles  Beethoven,  Opera,  Schools, 
Mass;  Upton,  The  Standard  Operas  and  The  Standard  Sym- 
phonies; Henderson,  How  Music  Developed. 

The  significance  of  Beethoven  in  the  development  of 
musical  forms  and  problems  lies  in  the  fact  that  he  marks 
the  transition  from  the  eighteenth  century  to  the  nine- 
teenth. The  idea  of  conformity  to  an  abstract  and  gen- 
eralized type  gives  way  to  the  impulse  to  sacrifice  pre- 
scribed form  and  order  in  the  interest  of  new  forms, 
which  shall  more  immediately  transmit  individual,  self- 
conscious  feeling.  This  revolutionary  change  of  attitude 
is  epitomized  in  Beethoven.  His  later  works  contain  a 
more  intense,  passionate  and  individual  utterance,  the 
strict  sonata  form  is  loosened,  the  orthodox  laws  of  pro- 
cedure are  defied,  greater  stress  is  laid  upon  particular 
moments  in  the  composition  as  compared  with  the  classic 
subordination  of  details  to  the  whole.  The  controlling 
principle  of  nineteenth-century  music  is  announced  here, 
—  freedom  of  utterance,  though  the  conventional  mould 
be  broken  in  the  process.  The  student  needs  only  to 
compare  the  style  and  structure  of  Beethoven's  last 


184    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


sonatas  and  quartets  with  those  of  his  early  period  and 
with  those  of  his  predecessors.  The  modern  tendency 
to  bring  instrumental  music  into  more  obvious  relation 
to  definite  describable  ideas,  taking  on  new  forms  and 
coloring  in  the  process,  is  plainly  disclosed  in  Beethoven. 
How  far  did  Beethoven  anticipate  the  convictions  of  the 
modern  "  poetic  "  and  "  programme  "  music  ?  The  effort 
to  illustrate  precise  thoughts  and  moods  is  seen  in 
many  works  with  titles,  such  as  the  sonata  called  "  Adieu, 
Absence  and  Return,"  the  quartet  movement,  u  Hymn  of 
Thanksgiving  on  Recovering  from  Illness"  (Op.  132), 
the  "  Heroic  "  symphony,  etc.  In  the  "  Pastoral  sym- 
phony "  this  effort  is  carried  to  the  extent  of  imitating 
natural  sounds.  Hints  of  the  same  conception  are  found 
in  passages  in  the  style  of  recitative  (D  minor  sonata). 
In  Beethoven's  recorded  conversations  and  letters  there 
is  evidence  that  his  music  is  often  symbolic  of  mental 
states.  Taken  for  all  in  all,  Beethoven  is  one  of  the 
central  pivotal  figures  in  musical  development.  His 
supreme  power  is  shown  not  only  in  his  actual  works  but 
also  in  his  commanding  influence  upon  the  leading 
composers  of  the  later  time,  such  as  Schumann,  Liszt, 
Berlioz,  Wagner  and  Brahms,  as  indicated  in  their 
works  and  their  recorded  tributes. 


XXVII 


THE  GERMAN  ROMANTIC  OPERA.    CARL  MARIA  VON 
WEBER,  1786-1826 

The  most  important  forward  movement  in  German 
music,  contemporary  with  the  culmination  of  the  sonata 
form  under  Beethoven,  is  the  rise  of  a  German  school 
of  opera.  Early  in  the  nineteenth  century  Germany 
created  a  form  of  opera  worthy  of  comparison  with  the 
Italian  and  the  French,  and  thus  asserted  for  the  first 
time  its  independence  in  the  field  of  dramatic  music. 
The  struggle  of  German  opera  to  establish  its  natural 
rights  against  its  domineering  rivals  is  one  of  the  capital 
events  of  music  history  in  this  period,  and  the  conse- 
quences of  that  effort  have  been  permanent  and  far- 
reaching.  The  direction  which  German  opera  was  to 
take  was  established  chiefly  by  Weber,  whose  operas  in 
point  of  genius  are  far  superior  to  those  of  the  other 
early  composers  of  the  romantic  school,  although  his 
contemporaries  Spohr  and  Schubert  must  be  recognized 
as  factors  of  more  or  less  influence. 

The  rise  of  a  distinct  school  of  German  opera  must  be 
viewed  as  a  detail  of  the  "  war  of  liberation "  waged 
in  art,  literature,  philosophy  and  other  forms  of  intel- 
lectual activity  against  their  long  subjection  to  French 
and  Italian  culture.  The  establishment  of  the  German 
Lied  as  one  of  the  great  historic  art  forms  by  Schubert  is 


186    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


the  result  of  a  similar  impulse.  That  these  achieve- 
ments were  contemporary  with  the  overthrow  of  Napo- 
leon's tyranny  and  the  rise  of  Germany's  political  power 
is  more  than  a  coincidence. 

At  the  time  of  the  production  of  Weber's  operas, 
dramatic  music  at  the  German  courts  was  wholly  Italian. 
The  history  of  the  Italian  opera  in  Germany  is  essentially 
that  of  this  artificial  and  degenerate  style  in  other 
countries.  The  German  romantic  opera  was  humble 
and  obscure  in  its  origin;  the  success  of  Weber  was 
only  partial ;  the  French  and  Italian  schools  of  opera 
remained  dominant  until  the  triumph  of  the  works  of 
Wagner. 

Weber  and  Spohr  did  not  create  the  German  romantic 
opera.  It  was  foreshadowed  in  Mozart's  "  Entfiihrung  " 
and  "  Zauberflo'te,"  but  finds  its  true  origin  in  the 
Singspiel  (song  play)  of  the  eighteenth  century.  The 
Singspiel  was  originally  a  light  dramatic  piece,  in  which 
the  spoken  dialogue  was  interspersed  with  songs.  The 
plot  and  characters  were  drawn  from  native  and  hum- 
ble sources ;  the  element  of  farce  and  burlesque  was 
often  conspicuous;  the  musical  numbers  were  at  first 
few  and  extremely  simple,  often  folk  songs,  sometimes 
with  only  the  slightest  relation  to  the  plot.  With  the 
enlargement  of  the  musical  element  and  its  participation 
in  the  action  the  Singspiel  developed  into  true  opera. 
The  Singspiel  flourished  greatly  in  the  smaller  folk  the- 
atres of  Germany  in  the  eighteenth  century.  Among 
the  most  prominent  of  Singspiel  composers  were  J.  A. 
Hiller  (1728-1804),  Dittersdorf  (1739-1799),  Reichardt 
(1752-1814)  and  Wenzel  Muller  (1767-1835).  The 


GERMAN  ROMANTIC  OPERA  — WEBER,  1786-1826  187 


promise  that  lay  in  this  rude  form  consisted  in  its 
naturalness,  vivacity  and  freedom  from  cramping  tra- 
dition. In  South  Germany  and  Austria  fairy  tales  and 
local  legends  were  much  drawn  upon  for  material,  and 
in  this  "  Zauberoper  "  is  found  the  source  of  the  higher 
romantic  opera  of  Weber,  Spohr  and  their  successors. 

Grove's  Dictionary,  articles  Singspiel,  Hiller,  Reichardt,  Ditters- 
dorf;  Jahn,  Life  of  Mozart,  vol.  ii,  pp.  216-21 ;  Oxford  History  of 
Music,  vol.  v  ;  Henderson,  How  Music  Developed. 

The  motive  for  the  development  of  the  German  ro- 
mantic opera  was  closely  akin  to  that  which  inspired  the 
"  romantic  school  "  of  poetry.  The  general  impulse  to 
draw  art  material  from  native  German  sources  and 
express  a  feeling  that  was  Teutonic  —  a  sort  of  new 
German  Renaissance,  led  by  Herder,  Lessing,  Goethe 
and  Schiller  —  took  a  special  direction  in  the  hands  of 
the  romantic  school  of  poetry,  founded  about  1800. 
The  common  tendency  of  the  romanticists  was  the 
search  for  the  spiritual  element  in  the  national  life. 
Breaking  away  from  the  worn-out  classic  themes,  tem- 
peramentally unconscious  of  the  artistic  value  in  con- 
temporary actual  life,  they  buried  themselves  in  mediaeval 
romances,  the  ideals  of  chivalry  and  monasticism  and 
in  folklore.  With  eyes  turned  upon  German  land- 
scape and  German  common  life,  they  saw  them  not  as 
they  really  are,  but  transfigured  by  the  mists  of  fantasy. 
Their  fondness  for  what  is  strange,  highly  colored  and 
sensuous  led  them  also  into  the  Orient  and  Spain  in 
search  of  themes  and  imagery.  A  contemplative,  vision- 
ary cast  of  mind  was  fostered  by  this  attitude,  together 


188    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


with  frequent  extravagance  and  morbidness.  The 
movement  was  productive  in  that  it  promoted  national 
consciousness  and  opened  rich  poetic  fields.  The  de- 
cline of  the  school  was  due  to  the  vein  of  sentimen- 
tality and  childish  trifling  into  which  it  tended.  In 
the  work  of  a  few  of  the  strongest  poets,  painters  and 
musicians  of  the  school  the  romantic  movement  is  an 
important  factor  in  modern  art. 

The  standard  histories  of  German  literature  may  be  consulted 
for  the  romantic  school  of  poetry.  Its  influence  upon  painting  has 
been  brilliantly  set  forth  by  Muther,  History  of  Modern  Painting, 
vol.  i. 

The  love  of  the  supernatural  and  the  fantastic  seized 
powerfully  upon  certain  musicians  in  this  period,  for 
music  is  especially  suited  to  reflect  the  visionary  senti- 
ment of  romanticism.  We  find  at  once  an  alliance 
between  music  and  the  new  poetry  in  opera,  Lied  and 
ballad.  In  German  landscape,  peasant  life  and  heredi- 
tary musical  and  poetic  forms  was  found  a  fresh  and 
most  promising  store  of  material,  which  the  new  school 
of  musicians  seized  upon  eagerly. 

The  composer  who  was  most  completely  saturated  with 
the  romantic  feeling  was  Carl  Maria  von  Weber.  His 
works  are  important  not  merely  for  their  beaut}',  but  still 
more  for  the  impulse  they  gave  to  the  romantic  move- 
ment, and  their  suggestion  of  new  effects  and  methods. 
His  early  life  was  irregular  and  roving,  following  his 
unstable  father,  who  was  a  travelling  theatre  director. 
His  musical  education  was  desultory  ;  his  wandering 
life  confirmed  his  romantic  tendencies ;  his  profession 


GERMAN  ROMANTIC  OPERA  — WEBER,  1786-182G  189 


was  that  of  an  opera  director.  His  first  important  opera 
was  "  Silvana  "  (1810).  He  was  opera  director  at  Prague, 
1813-1817,  and  obtained  a  national  fame  by  his  spirited 
settings  of  Korner's  war  songs.  He  became  conspicuous 
as  concert  pianist.  He  was  called  to  Dresden  in  1817  as 
director  of  a  theatre  devoted  to  opera  performances  in 
the  German  language,  and  in  his  rivalry  with  the  Italian 
opera,  which  was  supported  by  the  court,  there  virtually 
began  the  momentous  contest  between  German  national 
art  and  the  foreign  fashion.  His  epoch-making  work, 
44  Der  Freischiitz,"  was  first  performed  at  Berlin  in  1821 ; 
it  rapidly  spread  over  Germany  and  attained  a  popularity 
such  as  no  other  German  opera  has  ever  enjoyed. 
"  Euryanthe  "  was  written  for  Vienna  (1823) ;  "  Oberon  " 
for  London  (1826).  Dramatic  works  of  lesser  importance 
are  "  Abu  Hassan,"  a  comic  opera  (1811),  and  "Preciosa," 
incidental  music  to  a  poem  by  Wolff  (1821).  Next  to  the 
operas  Weber's  most  vital  works  are  a  few  piano  pieces. 
He  wrote  a  large  number  of  songs,  dramatic  pieces, 
occasional  cantatas,  masses,  symphonies  and  overtures. 
Few  of  these  are  now  performed.  His  high  place  in 
the  history  of  music  depends  upon  his  last  three  operas. 

The  most  important  biography  of  Weber  is  by  his  son,  Max  von 
Weber,  a  work  written  with  judgment  and  literary  skill.  Its  ac- 
count of  Weber's  struggles  to  make  head  against  the  Italian  musical 
supremacy  in  Dresden  is  especially  interesting.  There  is  an  Eng- 
lish translation.  The  life  of  Weber  in  the  Great  Musicians  series, 
by  Sir  Julius  Benedict,  is  the  work  of  an  eminent  musician  and  a 
pupil  and  friend  of  Weber.  The  article  on  Weber  in  Grove's  Dic- 
tionary, by  Professor  Spitta,  is  of  great  value.  See  also  Famous 
Composers  and  their  Works,  series  i,  article  on  Weber  by  H.  E. 
Krehbiel  (a  very  able  piece  of  criticism) ;  Finck,  Wagner  and  his 
Works,  for  allusions  to  the  influence  of  Weber  upon  Wagner; 


190    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


Moscheles,  Recent  Music  and  Musicians,  for  an  account  of  Weber's 
experience  and  death  in  London.  Catalogues  of  Weber's  works  in 
Benedict's  Weber,  and  Grove's  Dictionary,  article  Weber. 

A  romantic  opera  of  the  German  school  is  one  whose 
subject  is  unreal,  strange  or  fantastic;  and  although  it 
may  contain  realistic  or  historic  features,  yet  over  the 
whole  is  spread  a  glamour  drawn  from  the  world  of 
myth  and  fable.  It  deals  by  preference  with  the  period 
of  mediaeval  chivalry,  with  its  wild  and  surprising  ad- 
ventures. The  characters  are  under  the  sway  of  fatal- 
istic and  magical  powers.  The  themes  are  derived  from 
German,  Norse,  French,  Spanish  or  Oriental  romances; 
the  setting  is  usually  true  to  the  landscape  and  social 
and  political  conditions  of  the  time  represented. 
Strictly  speaking,  subjects  taken  from  Greek  myth 
(e.  g.  Gluck's  works)  might  also  be  called  romantic ;  but 
the  term  is  habitually  applied  only  to  themes  and  charac- 
ters found  in  mediaeval  and  modern  legend  and  folklore. 
Although  the  comic  element  is  sometimes  admitted,  the 
German  romantic  composers  of  Weber's  time  and  later 
treated  their  subjects  earnestly,  portraying  natural 
emotion  and  genuine  types  of  character. 

Weber  in  his  dramatic  works  entered  every  sphere 
of  romanticism  that  had  been  discovered  by  the  poets. 
"  In  '  Der  Freischiitz '  the  prevailing  color  was  derived 
from  the  life  of  German  foresters  and  huntsmen;  in 
4  Preciosa '  we  have  the  charm  of  the  South  in  lovely 
Spain,  then  the  type  of  all  that  was  romantic,  with  the 
picturesque  life  of  the  roving  gypsy.  '  Euryanthe  ' 
takes  us  back  to  the  Middle  Ages  and  the  palmy  days  of 
chivalry,  which  reappear  to  some  extent  in  4  Oberon,' 


GERMAN  ROMANTIC  OPERA  — WEBER,  1786-1826  191 


mingled  with  scenes  from  Oriental  life  and  from  fairy 
land  "  (Spitta,  Grove's  Dictionary,  article  Weber). 

"  Der  Freischutz  "  is  the  first  opera  of  real  poetic  and 
musical  importance  in  which  the  life  of  the  German 
country  people  is  depicted.  Its  important  features  are 
the  spoken  dialogue,  showing  its  connection  with  the  old 
Singspiel,  the  frequent  use  of  a  terse  and  simple  kind  of 
tune  derived  from  the  folk  song  (choruses  of  bridesmaids, 
peasants,  huntsmen,  introductory  melody  in  the  over- 
ture, hermit's  song,  etc.)  the  powerful  use  of  the  super- 
natural for  a  serious  moral  purpose  (scene  in  the  wolf's 
den),  and  the  prominence  given  to  special  tone  color  in 
the  orchestra  as  a  means  of  painting  situation  and  sug- 
gesting emotion.  In  the  dramatic  use  of  a  national 
style  of  melody  for  conveying  local  truth  "  Der  Frei- 
schutz "  marks  an  epoch. 

In  the  history  of  the  development  of  German  dramatic 
music  "  Euryanthe  "  is  even  more  important  than  "  Der 
Freischutz,"  although  the  triviality  of  the  plot  and 
the  artificiality  of  the  characters  have  greatly  interfered 
with  its  popular  success.  It  was  written  as  a  reply  to 
certain  critics  who  found  "  Der  Freischutz  "  amateurish, 
and  denied  Weber's  ability  to  write  a  "  heroic  "  opera 
and  handle  the  larger  forms.  The  influence  of  the  folk 
song  is  less  evident  than  in  "  Der  Freischutz  " ;  in 
sustained  musical  invention  it  is  superior  to  its  prede- 
cessor. Its  historic  significance  lies  largely  in  the  contin- 
uous style  of  the  music  and  the  tendency  to  merge 
recitative  and  melody  in  a  new  manner  of  expression.  In 
this  Weber  was  the  true  precursor  of  Wagner,  and  to  one 
who  studies  "  Euryanthe  "  and  "  Lohengrin  "  together 


192    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


the  indebtedness  of  the  later  work  to  the  earlier  is 
apparent.  Weber's  recorded  opinions  on  opera  point  to 
the  fully  developed  principles  of  Wagner.  To  Weber  the 
opera  is  "  an  art-work  complete  in  itself,  in  which  all 
the  parts  and  contributions  of  the  related  arts  meet  and 
disappear  in  each  other,  and  in  a  manner  form  a  new 
world  by  their  own  destruction.  .  .  .  The  generation  of 
a  new  form  must  be  effected  by  the  poem  of  which  the 
setting  is  made  "  (Weber). 

"  Oberon "  is  a  work  of  lighter  purpose  ;  it  is  the 
highest  development  of  the  old  fairy  opera.  Spoken 
dialogue  is  restored ;  Italian  and  German  forms  and 
styles  appear ;  it  is  a  masterpiece  in  melody,  and  in  the 
exquisite  manner  in  which  local  aspects  and  the  atmos- 
phere of  enchantment  that  pervades  the  whole  are 
reflected  in  the  orchestra.  Three  phases  of  life  are 
depicted  with  great  beauty  and  reality:  mediaeval 
chivalry,  the  moonlight-colored  region  of  elfland  and 
the  dull  existence  of  an  Oriental  harem. 

The  plots  of  the  above  operas  are  given  by  Upton,  The  Standard 
Operas,  and  by  Annesley,  The  Standard  Opera  Glass.  Editions  for 
voices  and  piano,  with  English  text,  are  published  by  Novello. 
Able  criticism  and  descriptions  are  given  by  Spitta  in  Grove's  Dic- 
tionary, article  Weber,  and  Krehbiel,  Famous  Composers  and  their 
Works,  series  i.  Both  these  essays  should  be  carefully  read  in  con- 
nection with  the  operas  in  Novello's  edition.  See  also  Henderson, 
How  Music  Developed ;  Oxford  History  of  Music,  vol.  v;  Apthorp, 
The  Opera,  Past  and  Present;  Parry,  The  Evolution  of  the  Art  of 
Music  ;  Grove's  Dictionary,  articles  Romantic,  Opera,  Schools ;  Finck, 
Wagner  and  his  Works ;  Runciman,  Old  Scores  and  New  Readings. 
Wagner,  in  Opera  and  Drama  (Ellis'  translation),  speaks  of  Weber 
with  keen  discrimination  from  the  viewpoint  of  his  own  musico- 
dramatic  principles.  Wagner's  account  of  Weber's  obsequies  at 
Dresden,  and  his  own  eloquent  eulogy,  may  be  found  in  Ellis' 
translation  of  Wagner's  Prose  Works,  vol.  vii. 


GERMAN  ROMANTIC  OPERA  —  WEBER,  1786-1826  193 

In  studying  Weber  the  student  should  observe  (1) 
his  use  of  the  folk  song  form ;  (2)  his  delineation  of  tem- 
perament by  means  of  music  (e.  g.  Agathe,  Aenchen,  Max 
and  Caspar  in  "  Der  Freischiitz  ")  ;  (3)  his  use  of  "  local 
color,"  —  this  term  signifying  "  that  style  of  music  which 
brinsrs  to  mind  associations  connected  with  certain 
scenes,  races  and  epochs  " ;  (4)  the  prominence  of  land- 
scape and  the  tone  it  gives  his  music ;  (5)  the  different 
sides  from  which  he  approaches  the  supernatural, — 
playful  and  superficial  in  "  Oberon,"  with  deep  moral 
purpose  in  "  Der  Freischiitz  "  ;  (6)  the  unfailing  splendor 
of  his  orchestration,  its  prominence  in  his  work  and  his 
contribution  to  the  development  of  the  opera  through 
his  method  of  reinforcing  idea  and  situation  by  means 
of  special  tone  color.  In  the  last  two  points  Weber's 
chief  significance  in  music  history  lies.  He  was  essen- 
tially the  founder  of  the  present  art  of  dramatic  orches- 
tration. He  was  virtually  the  first  to  make  systematic  use 
of  special  tones  and  registers  of  single  instruments  for 
dramatic  effect.  Compare  the  classic  method  of  holding 
instruments  together  in  groups  and  merging  them  by 
means  of  the  strings.  "  At  the  moment  when,  after  the 
first  twenty-four  measures  of  the  overture  to  1  Der  Frei- 
schiitz,' with  their  horn  sounds  breathing  the  fragrance 
of  the  forest  while  the  string  orchestra  suggests  the  soft 
murmur  of  the  leaves,  the  mysterious  boding  tones  of  the 
two  clarinets  are  heard,  the  shuddering  G  and  C  strings 
of  the  violins  and  violas  quiver  and  the  deep  thuds 
of  the  kettle  drums  and  the  pizzicati  of  the  basses  arrest 
the  beating  of  one's  heart,  —  then  was  the  romantic 
opera  born "  (Riemann,  G-eschichte  der  Musik  seit  Bee- 

13 


194    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


thoven,  p.  186).  Weber  utilized  even  the  natural  defects 
of  particular  instruments  for  realistic  expression,  enlarg- 
ing the  color  resources  of  the  orchestra.  In  this  respect 
Wagner,  Berlioz  and  Meyerbeer  were  his  disciples.  The 
effect  of  Weber's  revolutionary  idea  is  also  seen  in 
independent  orchestral  composition,  especially  in  the 
works  of  the  "programme"  school. 

The  overtures  to  "  Der  Freischiitz,"  "  Euryanthe " 
and  "  Oberon  "  require  special  study,  not  only  because 
they  rank  among  the  best  works  of  their  class  in  sheer 
musical  beauty  and  as  illustrations  of  their  author's 
method  of  orchestration,  but  also  because  they  were  the 
model  for  the  nineteenth-century  type  of  overture, 
being  constructed  by  means  of  combination  and  develop- 
ment of  melodies  that  are  prominent  in  the  opera. 
Suggestions  of  this  method  are  found  among  the  older 
composers  (Mozart's  "  Don  Giovanni "  overture,  Bee- 
thoven's "  Leonore  No.  3 "),  but  Weber  expanded  it 
until  the  overture  becomes  an  epitome  of  the  whole 
dramatic  development  of  the  opera.  Compare  the  over- 
tures of  Handel  and  the  earlier  Italian  and  French 
opera  composers,  which  contain  no  indication  of  the 
character  of  the  work  that  follows.  Weber's  overtures 
are  not  mere  patchworks  of  themes,  such  as  the  over- 
tures of  many  nineteenth-century  Italian  and  French 
composers,  but  are  masterpieces  of  organic  design. 

In  Weber's  piano  works  the  pervading  style  is  a  fiery 
brilliancy ;  the  "  joy  of  life,"  which  has  been  called  the 
characteristic  note  of  his  music,  is  conspicuous  here, 
while  there  is  a  lack  of  depth  and  variety  of  expression. 
Weber  is  one  of  the  founders  of  the  "  brilliant "  school 


GERMAN  ROMANTIC  OPERA  — WEBER,  1786-182C  195 


of  modern  piano  music;  enlarging  the  sonorous  re- 
sources of  the  piano  ;  a  forerunner  of  Liszt.  His  most 
important  piano  works  are  the  concertos,  the  "  Concert- 
stuck"  in  F  minor,  the  sonatas,  the  "Invitation  to  the 
Dance"  (a  work  original  in  conception),  the  polacca 
in  E  and  the  rondo  in  E  flat.  The  "  Concertstuck  "  and 
the  "  Invitation  to  the  Dance  "  are  "  programme  "  com- 
positions. 

For  Weber's  piano  music  :  Bie,  History  of  the  Pianoforte  and 
Pianoforte  Players ;  Fillmore,  History  of  Pianoforte  Playing ;  Grove's 
Dictionary,  article  Weber. 

Ltjdwig  Spohr  (1784-1859)  deserves  notice  for  the 
valuable  influence  he  exerted  upon  practical  music  in 
his  time.  A  prolific  composer  in  many  styles,  his  works 
once  greatly  esteemed  are  now  rarely  heard.  His  most 
important  compositions  include  operas  ("  Jessonda"  is  the 
best),  oratorios,  symphonies,  of  which  four  ("  Consecra- 
tion of  Tones,"  "  Earthly  and  Divine  in  Human  Life," 
"  Historic  "  symphony,  and  "  Spring  "  symphony)  are 
"  programme  99  works,  chamber  music  and  concertos  and 
other  works  for  the  violin.  He  was  one  of  the  greatest 
violinists  of  his  day,  representing  the  German  idea  of 
interpretation  in  the  largest  sense  as  against  the  empha- 
sis upon  technical  effects  maintained  by  the  French  and 
Italian  players.  He  may  properly  be  called  the  founder 
of  modern  German  violin  playing  as  illustrated  by  such 
men  as  David  and  Joachim.  He  did  great  service  also 
as  conductor  of  musical  festivals.  His  powerful  in- 
fluence was  always  set  against  the  frivolous  tendencies 
of  his  time. 


196    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


Spohr  is  often  classed  with  Weber  as  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  romantic  school  of  opera,  but  there  were 
romantic  opera  writers  before  either  of  them.  Spohr 
treated  romantic  subjects,  but  his  musical  style  never 
possessed  the  real  romantic  ring.  The  later  romantic 
school  derives  its  character  from  Weber,  not  at  all  from 
Spohr.  His  orchestration  was  built  upon  the  classic 
principles,  not  upon  Weber's.  His  musical  style  in  all 
his  works  is  rather  weak,  undecided  and  monotonous, 
due  largely  to  an  excessive  use  of  the  chromatic.  His 
violin  concertos  are  still  often  played.  One  or  two  of 
his  symphonies,  "Jessonda,"  and  the  oratorio,  "Die 
letzten  Dinge,"  are  occasionally  heard. 

Famous  Composers  and  their  Works,  series  i,  article  Spolir ;  Grove's 
Dictionary,  articles  Spohr,  Opera;  Oxford  History  of  Music,  vol.  v, 
and  above-cited  articles  and  books  dealing  with  the  opera.  Spohr's 
very  interesting  autobiography  has  been  translated  into  English. 

Romantic  opera  writers  closely  following  Weber  are 
Heinrich  Marschner  (1795-1861 ;  chief  works  "  Der 
Vampyr,"  "  Der  Templer  und  die  Jiidin,"  "  Hans  Hell- 
ing"); Konradin  Kreutzer  (1780-1849;  "Das  Nacht- 
lager  in  Granada");  Albert  Lortzing  (1803-1852; 
"  Zar  und  Zimmermann,"  "  Der  Wildschiitz,"  "  Undine," 
"Der  Waffenschmidt ")  ;  Otto  Nicolai  (1810-1849; 
"Die  lustigen  Weiber  von  Windsor").  Marschner 
emphasized  the  gruesome  and  fantastic  with  much 
power,  but  was  greatly  inferior  to  Weber  in  the  expres- 
sion of  genuine  human  feeling.  Lortzing  was  long  one 
of  the  most  popular  of  German  composers,  by  reason  of 
the  grace  and  truth  in  which  he  represented  the  every- 
day life  of  village  and  country.    Kreutzer  also  endeared 


GERMAN  ROMANTIC  OPERA  — WEBER,  1786-1826  197 


himself  to  the  people  by  his  beautiful  chorus  writing  in 
opera,  and  in  special  works  for  men's  chorus  ("  Die 
Kapelle,"  "  Der  Tag  des  Herrn,"  etc.) 

These  composers,  although  successful  in  certain  spe- 
cialties and  possessing  the  true  romantic  spirit,  fell  far 
behind  Weber  in  genius.  The  romantic  idea  in  its 
apparent  decline  was  seized  by  Wagner,  who  carried  it 
to  its  completion,  and  in  completing  absorbed  and 
transcended  it. 

Grove's  Dictionary  ;  Famous  Composers  and  their  Works,  series  i, 
articles  upon  the  composers  named. 


xxvin 

THE  GERMAN  LIED.    FRANZ  SCHUBERT,  1797-1828 

Early  in  the  nineteenth  century  the  German  song 
(Lied),  for  single  voice  with  piano  accompaniment, 
achieved  its  fixed  position  among  the  historic  musical 
forms.  Its  previous  condition  had  been  one  of  humility, 
beloved  in  its  simpler  guise  by  the  common  people,  but 
hardly  noticed  by  the  leading  composers.  The  form  of 
music  for  single  voice  that  was  cultivated  in  the  higher 
musical  circles  was  the  Italian  aria.  An  independent 
form  of  vocal  solo  which  flourished  in  the  eighteenth 
century  was  the  ode,  in  which  the  frequent  changes  of 
metre  and  rhythm  suggested  an  irregular  kind  of  set- 
ting, usually  declamatory,  the  instrumental  part  being 
indicated  by  a  bass,  figured  or  unfigured.  These  compo- 
sitions have  not  survived  in  modern  practice.  The  shy 
folk  song,  beloved  for  its  sincerity  and  its  intimacy  with 
domestic  experiences,  both  of  joy  and  sorrow,  was 
universally  practised,  but  in  the  eighteenth  century  its 
possibilities  of  development  were  hardly  imagined.  The 
assertion  of  the  German  national  consciousness  in  all 
forms  of  intellectual  activity  (chap,  xxvii)  must  be  felt 
also  in  that  form  of  social  song  that  was  native  to 
Germany.  The  rise  of  the  art  Lied  in  the  care  of  Schubert, 
Schumann  and  others  was  one  of  the  inevitable  conse- 
quences of  the  new  German  movement  in  literature  and 


THE  GERMAN  LIED  —  SCHUBERT,  1797-1828  199 


music.  Like  the  romantic  opera,  it  was  a  return  to 
nature,  the  expression  of  a  national  feeling  which  could 
not  be  gratified  by  the  older  alien  forms. 

The  student  begins  his  study  of  this  lyric  movement 
with  the  German  folk  song.  A  few  examples  suffice  to 
indicate  its  quality :  the  music  remains  the  same  for 
every  stanza;  the  rhythm  of  the  music  follows  closely 
that  of  the  text,  the  form  being  the  simplest  known ; 
the  accompaniment  merely  supports  the  voice  with  a  few 
of  the  commonest  chords,  aiming  at  no  expression  of 
its  own.  The  next  stage  is  the  introduction  of  the  folk 
song  into  the  Singspiel  (Hiller,  Reichardt  and  others)  and 
the  imitation  of  its  style  in  independent  lyrics  by  com- 
posers of  minor  rank,  such  as  Reichardt  and  Zelter.  A 
few  examples  are  found  in  Haydn,  Mozart  and  Beethoven. 
Weber  made  an  abundant  use  of  it.  The  expansion  of 
the  Lied  into  its  present  scope  and  stature,  the  fulfilment 
of  its  high  destiny  as  an  art  form,  is  the  work,  before 
all  others,  of  Franz  Schubert. 

The  significance  of  the  growth  of  the  Lied  into  its  his- 
toric position  is  tersely  expressed  by  Merian :  u  The  Lied 
is  distinguished  from  the  earlier  forms  of  solo  song  (aria, 
ode)  in  this  respect,  that  no  longer  the  music  but  the 
word-text  appears  as  the  chief  element.  About  the  mid- 
dle of  the  eighteenth  century  Lied  texts  were  composed 
to  already  existing  melodies;  the  modern  Lied  composer, 
however,  sets  music  to  a  poem ;  he  seeks  by  his  art 
to  enhance  the  effect  of  the  poet's  words.  From  this 
point  of  view  the  Lied  must  be  considered  as  the  direct 
forerunner  of  the  modern  music  drama.  Through  the 
Lied  musicians  first  learned  to  respect  the  poetic  text, 


200    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


which  for  a  long  time  had  been  only  a  make-shift,  a 
vehicle  for  their  tones.  What  the  great  reformers  of 
the  opera  strove  for  —  the  most  intimate  mingling  of 
word  and  tone  —  was  first  accomplished  by  the  Lied 
singers'*  (Geschichte  der  Musik  im  neunzehnten  Jahr- 
hundert,  p.  546). 

This  submission  of  the  composer's  mind  to  the  poet's, 
the  control  even  of  his  highest  musical  invention  by 
the  purpose  to  give  the  fullest  possible  expression  to  the 
mood  and  sentiment  of  the  text,  is  to  be  recognized  in  the 
works  of  all  the  modern  composers  of  German  song.  As 
compared  with  the  eighteenth-century  aria  it  marks  the 
parting  of  the  ways  in  the  history  of  vocal  music. 

The  student  is  referred  to  any  one  of  the  numerous  collections 
of  German  folk  songs.  A  rich  collection  is  that  of  Erk,  Peters' 
edition,  3  vols.  There  is  a  single-volume  collection,  with  English 
text,  published  by  Pond,  New  York.  The  songs  of  Hiller,  Zelter, 
Reichardt  and  other  eighteenth-century  writers  do  not  require  a 
wide  familiarity,  for  their  form  and  style  are  almost  always  about 
the  same.  The  relation  of  Zelter  to  Goethe  as  the  poet's  favorite 
composer  is  interesting,  for  the  complete  subjection  of  musical 
effect  to  the  poetry  in  Zelter's  songs  agreed  with  Goethe's  convic- 
tions. Schubert's  settings  found  no  favor  in  Goethe's  eyes.  For 
critical  discussions  :  Grove's  Dictionary,  article  Song ;  Elson,  His- 
tory of  German  Song;  Finck,  Songs  and  Song  Writers;  Parry,  The 
Evolution  of  the  Art  of  Music ;  Hueffer,  Richard  Wagner  and  the  Mu- 
sic of  the  Future,  pp.  168-89.  There  is  an  interesting  collection  of 
letters  between  Goethe  and  Zelter,  translated  by  A.  D.  Coleridge. 
For  the  history  of  the  song  before  Schubert  see  particularly  the 
Oxford  History  of  Music,  vol.  v,  chap.  12. 

A  song,  in  strict  definition,  is  a  form  of  vocal  music 
in  which  a  single  thought  or  sentiment  is  rendered.  It 
is  not  narrative,  and  does  not  present  contrasted  ideas  or 


THE  GERMAN  LIED  —  SCHUBERT,  1797-1828  201 


a  development  of  thought  or  feeling.  It  does  not  give 
the  processes  which  resulted  in  the  feeling,  but  simply  the 
feeling  itself.  It  is  thus  distinguished  from  an  aria  or 
a  ballad.  A  song  does  not  involve  description  or  com- 
ment except  so  far  as  may  be  necessary  to  make  the 
single  idea  distinct.  It  acts  directly  upon  the  emotion. 
The  music,  however  elaborate,  does  not  exist  for  the 
sake  of  an  independent  impression,  but  as  a  means  of 
carrying  the  essential  mood  or  the  imagery  of  the  poem 
directly  to  the  hearer's  feeling. 

The  German  Lied  exists  in  several  forms :  (1)  the 
strophe  or  stanza  form,  in  which  every  stanza  is  set  to 
exactly  the  same  music,  —  the  folk-song  form ;  (2)  the 
modified  strophe  form,  in  which  musical  changes  occur 
in  one  stanza,  usually  the  last;  (3)  the  "through- 
composed  "  form  (durchcomponirt),  in  which  there  is  no 
division  of  the  melody  by  stanzas,  the  music  being 
continuous  and  the  sections  and  phrases  changing  their 
character  according  to  the  sentiment  of  the  poem.  The 
latter  is  of  course  the  highest  form.  In  the  history  of 
the  German  Lied  the  development  has  been  more  em- 
phatically in  the  piano  accompaniment  than  in  the  voice 
melody,  with  a  tendency  toward  an  irregular  form  and 
a  declamatory  style. 

These  forms  and  tendencies  are  all  illustrated  in  the 
songs  of  Schubert.  The  complete  model  for  this  phase 
of  art  was  once  for  all  established  by  him.  Later  com- 
posers have  simply  applied  his  methods  and  principles. 
There  has  been  progress  beyond  him  in  the  piano 
accompaniment ;  no  one  has  equalled  him  in  beauty  and 
variety  of  melody.    He  claims  the  distinction  of  having 


202    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


singly  raised  a  musical  form  from  comparative  obscurity 
to  a  rank  among  the  historic  art  styles. 

Schubert's  life  was  obscure  and  uneventful.  He  was 
born  at  Lichtenthal,  a  suburb  of  Vienna ;  admitted  as  a 
choir  boy  into  the  school  of  St.  Stephen's  church  in 
Vienna.  His  extraordinary  precocity  bewildered  his 
teachers,  and  he  found  no  one  to  give  him  the  strict 
training  which  such  an  exuberant  genius  needed.  A 
diffuseness,  even  laxness  of  style  in  many  of  his  larger 
works,  especially  instrumental,  may  be  due  to  this  lack  of 
early  discipline.  Leaving  the  choir  school  when  his  voice 
changed,  he  was  assistant  in  his  father's  day  school, 
1813-1816,  having  charge  of  the  primary  classes.  His 
fertility  as  a  composer  and  the  swiftness  of  his  work  are 
among  the  most  remarkable  phenomena  in  the  history  of 
music,  especially  in  these  years  of  school-teaching  drudg- 
ery. A  few  musicians,  particularly  Vogl,  the  opera 
singer,  discovering  his  genius,  persuaded  him  to  give 
himself  entirely  to  music.  For  the  remainder  of  his  life 
he  lived  a  precarious  and  somewhat  Bohemian  existence 
in  Vienna,  always  pinched  by  poverty,  and  hampered 
by  lack  of  recognition.  No  composition  of  his  was 
published  until  1821.  This  lack  of  reputation  and 
material  success  is  partly  due  to  the  fact  that  the  Lied, 
in  which  he  first  distinguished  himself,  was  not  then 
recognized  as  one  of  the  serious  art  forms.  The  only 
form  of  solo  song  known  in  the  public  concerts  was  the 
Italian  aria.  His  operas  failed.  His  personality  was 
not  of  a  sort  to  gain  a  salaried  position  or  to  attract 
pupils.  Nevertheless  his  reputation  steadily  grew,  his 
works  began  to  appear  in  concerts,  publishers  began 


THE  GERMAN  LIED  —  SCHUBERT,  1797-1828  203 


to  call  for  them.  He  was  about  to  enter  upon  a  career 
of  distinction  when  a  fever  snatched  him  away.  His 
fame  has  been  steadily  growing  to  the  present  day.  His 
songs  first  conquered  the  world,  then  his  instrumental 
works.  The  assertion  of  Rubinstein  that  Schubert  was 
one  of  the  three  greatest  musical  geniuses  seems  to 
many  only  a  mild  exaggeration. 

Schubert's  works  include  solo  songs  (over  four  hun- 
dred and  fifty  in  number)  ;  part  songs  for  male,  female, 
and  mixed  voices ;  operas  and  dramatic  pieces  ;  masses 
and  other  religious  works  ;  chamber  music  (trios,  quar- 
tets, quintets,  octet)  ;  nine  symphonies  (there  is  no 
confirmation  of  Grove's  belief  in  the  existence  of  a 
tenth)  ;  twenty-four  piano  sonatas  ;  a  large  number  of 
miscellaneous  piano  pieces  —  impromptus,  fantasies,  mo- 
mens  musicals,  rondos,  dances,  polonaises  and  marches 
for  four  hands,  etc.  A  very  large  amount  of  this  work 
is  posthumous.  The  opus  numbers  give  but  slight  clue 
to  the  order  of  composition. 

The  best  English  biography  of  Schubert  is  probably  that  of  Sir 
George  Grove,  in  Grove's  Dictionary.  Among  its  many  valuable 
features  is  a  catalogue  of  Schubert's  works  in  the  years  of  their  com- 
position, so  far  as  ascertainable.  The  fullest  history  of  Schubert's 
life  is  that  of  Kreissle  von  Hellborn,  2  vols.,  translated  by  A.  D. 
Coleridge.  It  is  diffuse  and  its  criticism  is  not  profound.  Its  ac- 
counts of  Schubert's  operas  are  a  valuable  feature,  and  emphasize 
the  composer's  sympathy  with  the  romantic  school.  There  is  a 
readable  but  uncritical  biography  by  Frost  (Great  Musicians  series). 
It  contains  a  chronological  catalogue.  The  article  in  Famous  Com- 
posers and  their  Works,  series  i,  by  John  Fiske,  is  a  very  interesting 
tribute  by  an  accomplished  amateur. 

The  song  seems  to  come  nearer  to  the  heart  than  any 
other  form  of  music,  and  it  is  therefore  natural  that  in 


204    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


spite  of  the  greatness  of  Schubert's  instrumental  music 
the  love  that  the  whole  musical  world  bears  him  is 
mainly  due  to  his  Lieder.  As  a  melodist  he  is  unsur- 
passed. He  also  first  revealed  the  part  that  the  piano 
accompaniment  was  to  hold  in  the  highest  development 
of  the  Lied.  The  student  will  be  struck  not  only  with 
the  beauty  of  his  melodies  but  also  with  their  suitable- 
ness to  the  poetic  thought.  In  variety  of  melodic 
character  he  is  unequalled  by  any  other  song  writer. 
In  studying  any  song  of  Schubert  the  student  must 
first  know  the  poem  thoroughly ;  much  will  be  missed 
if  the  music  is  heard  abstractly. 

In  comparing  selected  songs  of  Schubert  with  each 
other  and  with  the  text  in  mind,  the  student  will 
notice  differences  in  the  degree  in  which  the  music 
penetrates  the  words.  In  some  the  expression  is  that 
of  a  general  mood,  the  attachment  is  comparatively 
loose  and  the  accompaniment  follows  one  or  two  gen- 
eral rhythmic  figures.  This  is  the  case  in  the  strophe 
songs  usually,  e.  g.  "  Das  Wandern,"  "  Haidenroslein," 
"  Sylvia,"  "  Jagers  Abendlied."  In  others  there  is  a 
closer  adhesion  with  greater  flexibility  of  style,  e.  g. 
"Der  Erlkonig,"  "  Der  Tod  und  das  Madchen," 
"  Wanderers  Nachtlied,"  "  Der  Wanderer."  Finally  a 
new  and  pregnant  model  is  established  in  such  songs 
as  "  Der  Doppelganger,"  "An  den  Tod,"  "  Der 
Leiermann " ;  the  music  is  almost  completely  pliant 
to  the  text,  every  line,  almost  every  word,  giving  color 
to  the  harmony ;  the  music  becomes  declamatory  and 
the  traditional  song  form  is  broken.  Other  songs  reach 
the  dimensions  and  character  of  odes  or  dramatic  scenes, 


THE  GERMAN  LIED  —  SCHUBERT,  1797-1828  205 


in  which  there  is  little  repetition  of  words,  the  music 
changing  its  character  in  close  obedience  to  the  text, 
e.  g.  "  An  Schwager  Kronos,"  "  Gruppe  aus  dem  Tar- 
tarus," "  Prometheus." 

In  spite  of  Schubert's  emotional  flexibility,  there  are 
certain  spheres  in  which  he  is  more  at  home  than  in 
others.  His  genius  was  essentially  lyric.  The  por- 
trayal of  external  activity  and  dramatic  conflict  was 
not  so  well  adapted  to  him.  He  had  not  the  chivalric 
glow  and  fervor  of  Weber.  As  a  ballad  writer  he  was 
excelled  by  Loewe.  His  kingdom  was  within ;  the 
outer  world  took  the  hue  of  his  own  brooding,  earnest 
thought.  His  mind  was  essentially  contemplative 
and  mystical.  He  was  greatest  in  his  setting  of  songs 
that  express  a  mood  of  melancholy  and  yearning.  In 
the  majority  of  his  songs  there  is  a  strain  of  pensiveness, 
often  of  sadness.  Ecstatic  songs,  such  as  "  Horch, 
horch,  die  Lerch'  "  and  "  Die  Taubenpost,"  are  com- 
paratively infrequent.  Taking  all  his  work  together, 
his  ruling  temperament  is  plainly  shown.  This  is  not 
disproved  by  the  fact  that  he  was  a  lover  of  good  cheer 
and  a  jovial  companion  among  his  mates.  The  elegiac 
tone  prevails  also  in  his  instrumental  music.  Among 
his  finest  songs  are  those  devoted  to  love  ("  Standchen," 
"  Du  bist  die  Run',"  "  Sei  mir  gegriisst,"  "  Die  schone 
Miillerin "  series),  religion  ("  Die  Allmacht,"  "  Die 
junge  Nonne  ")  and  nature  ("  Wanderers  Nachtlied," 
"  Aufenthalt,"  "Waldes  Nacht,"  songs  from  "Die 
Winterreise "  series).  The  song  cycles,  "Die  schone 
Miillerin  "  and  "  Die  Winterreise,"  should  have  careful 
study,  —  the  whole  Schubert  is  in  them.    In  the  latter 


206    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OE  MUSIC 

set  there  is  a  depth  and  sombre  grandeur  without 
parallel.  It  should  be  noticed  that  in  his  nature  songs 
he  is  a  type  of  the  nineteenth-century  artist  in  that  the 
effort  as  a  rule  is  to  reflect  a  mood,  rather  than  to 
describe  movement  or  suggest  natural  sound.  Among 
the  exceptions  to  this  are  "  Die  Forelle  "  and  "  Auf  dem 
Wasser  zu  singen." 

Among  the  best  critical  discussions  of  Schubert's  songs  are  the 
article  Schubert,  in  Grove's  Dictionary;  Finck,  Songs  and  Song 
Writers  ;  Hueffer,  Packard  Wagner  and  the  Music  of  the  Future  ; 
Parry,  The  Evolution  of  the  Art  of  Music.  See  also  Elson,  History 
of  the  German  Song  ;  Famous  Composers  and  their  Works,  series  i; 
Grove's  Dictionary,  article  Song ;  Kreissle  von  Hellborn,  Life  of 
Schubert ;  Oxford  History  of  Music,  vol.  v. 

Schubert  did  not  possess  the  dramatic  gift ;  his  operas 
were  either  still-born  or  of  very  brief  stage  life.  The 
most  important  are  "  Alphonso  und  Estrella "  and 
"  Fierabras,"  while  the  incidental  music  to  "  Rosamunde  " 
is  of  great  beauty,  and  a  few  numbers  (overture,  entr'acte 
and  ballet  music)  survive  in  concerts.  His  masses,  of 
which  the  most  important  are  those  in  A  flat  and  E  flat, 
while  greatly  superior  to  the  general  run  of  Austrian 
masses,  are  not  among  his  most  successful  attempts.  The 
choruses  and  part  songs  have  not  received  the  attention 
to  which  they  are  entitled ;  they  hold  a  high  place  in  a 
form  of  art  which  was  only  just  rising  into  its  present 
importance. 

While  it  is  improbable  that  Schubert  could  ever  have 
surpassed  his  best  songs  even  with  longer  life,  his  genius 
for  instrumental  music  was  continually  expanding.  It 
was  his  intention  near  the  close  of  his  life  to  devote 


THE  GERMAN  LIED  —  SCHUBERT,  1797-1328  207 


himself  chiefly  to  opera  and  orchestral  music.  The  rec- 
ognition b}-  the  world  of  his  powers  as  an  instrumentalist 
is  of  comparatively  recent  date.  The  best  judgment 
now  places  him  in  the  front  rank  of  writers  of  symphony 
and  chamber  music  following  Beethoven.  Such  works 
as  the  unfinished  symphony  in  B  minor  (allegro,  andante 
and  a  few  measures  of  a  scherzo),  the  symphony  in  C, 
the  string  quintet  in  C,  the  "  Forelle "  piano  quintet 
and  the  string  quartets  in  D  minor  and  A  minor  show  a 
marked  originality  in  melody,  harmony  and  rhythm,  and 
are  unsurpassed  in  beauty  by  any  works  of  their  class. 
They  fall  below  Beethoven's  only  in  grandeur  and  in 
concentration  of  style.  The  two  symphonies  mentioned 
are  also  remarkable  for  wealth  of  tone  effects.  In  ruanv 
of  Schubert's  instrumental  works  the  song  writer  is 
apparent  in  a  clinging  to  song  forms  and  vocal  styles 
of  melody,  but  in  his  greater  works,  especially  the  later, 
he  shows  progress  in  overcoming  this  weakness  and 
in  mastering  the  development  of  form  which  the  higher 
instrumental  art  demands. 

Grove's  Dictionary,  articles  Schubert,  Symphony :  Weingartner, 
The  Symphony  since  Beethoven,  trans,  by  Maude  Barrows  Dutton  ; 
Dvorak,  Franz  Schubert,  in  Century  Magazine,  July,  1894;  Schu- 
mann. Music  and  Musicians,  vol.  i,  analysis  of  Schubert's  C  major 
symphony:  Oxford  History  of  Music,  vol.  v,  chap.  11  ;  Upton,  The 
Standard  Sy7?ipho7iies. 

The  symphonies  and  chamber  works  are  published  by  Peters  in 
score  and  in  piano  arrangements.  They  are  also  contained  in  the 
pocket  editions  of  Eulenburg  and  of  Payne  (Leipzig). 

Schubert's  piano  works  are  of  great  interest.  Espe- 
cially important  are  the  fantasie  in  C,  the  impromptus, 
momens  musicals,  waltzes,  and  polonaises  and  marches 


208    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


for  four  hands.  The  sonatas,  in  spite  of  some  fine 
movements,  have  never  gained  the  favor  of  players.  The 
importance  of  the  short  characteristic  piano  piece  in 
modern  art  was  proclaimed  by  Schubert  in  the  im- 
promptus and  momens  musicals,  which  contain  gems  of 
expression  that  should  be  known  to  all  students.  The 
influence  of  the  national  dance  in  modern  music  is 
shown  in  Schubert's  groups  of  waltzes  and  in  the 
splendid  four-hand  polonaises  as  significantly  as  in 
Weber's  "Invitation  to  the  Dance."  The  beautiful 
"  Divertissement  a  la  hongroise "  glows  with  the  Hun- 
garian color,  caught  by  Schubert  during  a  short  stay  in 
Hungary  in  1818. 

Bie,  History  of  the  Pianoforte  and  Pianoforte  Players ;  Schumann, 
articles  in  Music  and  Musicians,  vol.  i ;  Fillmore,  History  of  Piano- 
forte Music  ;  Grove's  Dictionary,  article  Schubert. 

A  complete  edition  of  Schubert's  piano  music  is  published  by 
Peters. 

The  History  of  the  Art  Ballad  is  somewhat 
analogous  to  that  of  the  Lied.  The  art  ballad  is  a  strictly 
German  contribution  to  the  world's  music.  The  poetic 
ballad  is  a  short  narrative  in  verse,  describing  events  of 
a  stirring  character,  taken  from  history,  myth  or  legend. 
There  is  little  reflection  or  moralizing ;  the  lyric  ele- 
ment is  subordinate  to  the  epic.  A  distinction  must  be 
carefully  drawn  between  ballad  and  song.  Many  songs 
called  ballads  (e.  g.  the  modern  English  "  ballads  ")  are 
not  such.  German  poets  (Burger,  Goethe,  Schiller) 
wrote  ballads,  the  stimulus  coming  from  the  publication 
of  the  Englishman  Percy's  "Reliques  of  Ancient  Eng- 
lish Poetry."     Composers  at  once  began  to  set  the 


THE  GERMAN  LIED  —  SCHUBERT,  1797-1828  209 

German  ballads  to  music.  Most  important  of  such  com- 
posers in  the  eighteenth  century  is  Zumsteeg  (1760- 
1802). 

The  strophe  form,  in  which  many  of  the  eighteenth- 
century  ballads  were  written,  is  unsuitable ;  the 
"  through-composed  "  treatment  is  necessitated  by  the 
poetic  plan.  The  spirit  of  each  scene  and  character 
must  be  rendered  in  appropriate  tones.  Opportunity  is 
particularly  given  to  the  piano  accompaniment  to  pre- 
sent the  special  scenery,  atmosphere  and  movement. 
The  problem  is  to  preserve  artistic  unity  amid  the 
change  and  development  of  the  story. 

The  problem  of  the  ballad  was  solved  by  Carl 
Loewe  (1796-1869),  whose  service  to  this  form  of  art 
was  analogous  to  that  of  Schubert  to  the  Lied.  He  pos- 
sessed a  remarkable  power  in  presenting  ideas  that  are 
brilliant,  chivalric  and  weird.  His  method  is  various. 
Sometimes  he  carries  one  theme  through  the  greater 
part  of  the  work,  modifying  it  in  rhythm,  key,  tempo, 
harmony  or  accompaniment  figure.  He  loves  to  give 
the  same  theme  to  a  character  or  idea  whenever  it  re- 
turns in  the  ballad,  —  a  treatment  suggesting  Wagner's 
"  leading-motives."  He  is  one  of  the  greatest  masters 
of  the  wild,  heroic  and  spectral  in  the  shorter  forms. 
He  has  alwaj^s  the  true  ballad  tone,  the  romantic  ring. 
His  ballads  are  in  great  favor  among  German  and  Eng- 
lish singers  ;  they  seem  suited  only  to  the  male  voice, 
preferably  the  bass  or  baritone. 

Among  the  ballads  of  Loewe  recommended  for  study 
are  uDer  Erlkonig"  (compare  with  Schubert's  setting 
of  the  same  poem),  "  Edward,"  uHerr  Oluff,"  "  Har- 

14 


210    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


aid,"  "  Heinrich  der  Vogler,"  "  Archibald  Douglas," 
"Die  Nachtliche  Heerschau." 

Editions  of  Loewe's  ballads  by  Schlesinger  and  by  Hofmeister. 
Peters  publishes  two  volumes  with  English  and  German  texts. 

The  standard  English  work  on  Loewe  and  his  ballads  is  by 
A.  B.  Bach,  The  Art  Ballad:  Loewe  and  Schubert.  It  has  an  inter- 
esting chapter  on  the  ballad  as  an  art  form. 


XXIX 


PIANO  PLAYING  TO  ABOUT  1830 

A  new  era  in  domestic  and  concert  music  begins 
with  the  universal  adoption  of  the  piano  in  place  of  the 
harpsichord  and  clavichord.  If  we  speak  of  piano  music 
and  piano  playing  in  the  eighteenth  century  (J.  S. 
Bach,  Handel,  Scarlatti,  Couperin,  C.  P.  E.  Bach,  Mo- 
zart) we  use  the  expression  only  for  convenience,  remem- 
bering that  the  keyed  chamber  instruments  of  that  day 
were  different  in  mechanism  from  the  piano  (see  chap, 
xiv).  The  Bachs,  Scarlatti  and  Mozart  exhausted  the 
capacities  of  the  older  instruments  ;  progress  demanded 
a  change  in  mechanism  and  larger  resources  of  tone. 
This  advance  was  effected  by  the  piano,  but  not  at  once. 
The  invention  of  the  piano  dates  from  early  in  the  eigh- 
teenth century.  The  credit  is  now  given  to  Cristofori 
of  Padua  and  Florence,  about  1710  ; 1  the  direct  predeces- 
sor of  the  piano  was  the  dulcimer  (Grove's  Dictionary, 
article  Dulcimer).  The  invention  was  taken  up  by  the 
Germans  and  English.  Not  until  about  1790  were  its 
deficiencies  so  far  overcome  that  it  could  gain  univer- 
sal favor.  Mozart  (d.  1791)  used  both  the  harpsi- 
chord and  piano ;    Beethoven  the  piano  only.  The 

1  It  will  be  of  interest  to  American  readers  to  know  that  the  oldest 
Cristofori  piano  known  to  exist  is  in  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art, 
2S*ew  York. 


212    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


invention  of  the  damper  pedal,  about  1780,  was  as  revo- 
lutionary as  that  of  the  hammer  and  escapement.  The 
claim  of  the  inventor  was  the  superiority  of  the  new 
instrument  in  its  ability  to  play  both  soft  and  loud : 
piano  e  forte,  hence  pianoforte. 

For  the  early  history  of  the  piano  as  an  instrument :  Grove's 
Dictionary,  article  Pianoforte;  Bie,  History  of  the  Pianoforte  and 
Pianoforte  Players.  The  student  should  be  familiar  with  the  con- 
struction of  the  piano  and  the  exact  functions  of  those  features  of 
the  mechanism  which  afford  the  essentially  pianistic  effects. 

Before  the  reign  of  the  harpsichord  was  over  the 
contrapuntal  style  of  writing  for  instruments  definitely 
gave  way  to  the  free  monophonic.  The  fugue  was  com- 
plete ;  the  line  of  progress  was  transferred  to  the  sonata. 
The  brilliant,  florid  style  of  C.  P.  E.  Bach  (1714-1788) 
may  be  taken  as  a  natural  starting-point  for  the  study  of 
the  history  of  modern  piano  playing  (chap.  xiv).  Bach 
certainly  used  the  harpsichord,  but  he  is  no  less  the 
father  of  the  modern  school,  for  the  style  of  the  first 
piano  playing  was  essentially  the  same  as  that  of  harpsi- 
chord playing.  So  far  as  the  actual  music  is  observed 
no  one  could  tell  where  the  harpsichord  ceased  and  the 
piano  began.  We  do  not  speak  of  a  positive,  unmistak- 
able piano  style  until  we  come  to  Clementi  and  Beethoven. 

In  the  younger  Bach's  sonatas  the  attention  is  not 
drawn  to  imitative  counterpoint,  but  to  melody  and 
accompaniment.  The  melody  and  the  ornamentation  are 
in  the  treble.  The  present  method  of  fingering  was 
essentially  used  in  the  new  music.  Sonatas,  variations, 
isondos,  fantasies,  etc.,  rapidly  multiplied.  They  were  all 
characterized  by  fluent  passage  playing,  with  little  call 


PIANO  PLAYING  TO  ABOUT  1830  213 


upon  the  analytic  faculties.  Fulness,  breadth  and,  most 
important  of  all,  the  ability  to  sustain  a  tone  after  the 
finger  had  left  the  key,  must  wait  for  the  damper  pedal. 
The  new  music  rapidly  became  fashionable  and  ushered 
in  the  epoch  of  brilliant  society  and  drawing-room 
music.  The  harpsichord  and  clavichord,  and  soon  the 
piano,  became  the  instruments  of  the  home  circle  to  an 
extent  never  known  before.  Amateurs,  to  a  large 
extent  young  women,  became  the  patrons  of  the  new 
style,  hence  the  music  must  be  bright  and  attractive 
and  not  over-scholarly.  Light  salon  pieces  were  pro- 
duced in  great  quantities,  disseminated  by  musical 
magazines.  Arrangements  of  songs  and  opera  arias 
and  short  "  character  "  pieces  attained  great  popularity. 

The  playing  technic  was  a  finger  technic ;  the  hand 
quiet,  little  wrist  and  no  forearm  action.  The  passages 
were  generally  in  single  notes.  Absolute  distinctness 
and  the  most  perfect  smoothness  were  the  qualities 
demanded. 

A  very  full  account  of  the  music  of  this  transition  period  is 
given  in  Bie's  excellent  work.  Henderson's  chapters  on  the  subject, 
in  How  Music  Developed,  are  valuable.  See  also  Grove's  Diction- 
ary, article  Pianoforte  Playing ;  Weitzmann,  History  of  Pianoforte 
Playing  ;  Fillmore,  History  of  Pianoforte  Music.  Henderson  gives 
an  admirable  summary  in  Preludes  and  Studies.  For  Mozart's 
manner  of  playing,  typical  of  the  period:  Jahn,  Life  of  Mozart, 
vol.  ii,  chap.  23. 

In  the  history  of  piano  playing,  including  the  harp- 
sichord and  clavichord,  we  may  reckon  three  stages.  In 
the  first,  players  extemporized  upon  a  given  theme. 
This  practice  was  universal  in  J.  S.  Bach's  day,  frequent 
in  Beethoven's  and  later.    In  the  second  stage  players 


214    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


both  extemporized  and  performed  original  compositions 
which  they  had  committed  to  memory.  In  these  two 
periods  pianists  rarely  if  ever  played  the  published  works 
of  others.  Only  about  1830  or  later  did  pianists  come 
to  be  judged  as  interpreters  of  the  works  of  the  masters. 
The  latest  survival  of  the  old  custom  of  free  improvisa- 
tion was  in  the  extemporized  cadenza  in  the  concerto. 
The  concerto  writer  of  the  present  leaves  no  place  in  his 
work  for  such  a  cadenza.  The  old  ideal  was  that  of  free 
musical  creation  on  the  spur  of  the  moment ;  a  prepared 
performance  was  deemed  unworthy  of  an  artist.  To-day 
the  functions  of  composer  and  performer  are  in  general 
separated,  although  there  are  exceptions  in  the  case  of 
composers  who  are  also  skilled  pianists. 

The  development  of  piano  technic  should  be  traced 
down  through  the  professional  virtuosos  and  teachers 
and  their  direct  followers  or  pupils.  Beethoven  there- 
fore holds  a  somewhat  independent  place.  He  did  not 
create  a  school  of  playing  or  propound  ossentially  new 
technical  problems.  His  influence  was  indirect  and 
rather  upon  the  intellectual  side  than  the  mechanical.  It 
is  somewhat  the  fashion  at  present  to  look  upon  Beetho- 
ven's style  in  his  piano  works  as  in  the  last  analysis 
more  orchestral  than  truly  pianistic. 

Under  the  conditions  of  the  art  it  seemed  necessary 
that  the  development  of  mere  dexterity,  the  study  of 
muscular  action,  should  hold  the  first  place  in  the  piano- 
playing  world  for  a  time.  The  virtuosos  of  the  first 
forty  years  of  the  nineteenth  century,  although  so  many 
of  them  tended  to  degrade  music  on  the  creative  side, 
did  good  service  in  working  out  the  problems  of  finger 


PIANO  PLAYING  TO  ABOUT  1830  215 


and  wrist  action  and  devising  all  manner  of  technical 
combinations.  The  skill  of  hand  was  thus  prepared  for 
the  great  works  that  were  soon  to  appear.  Europe  was 
overrun  in  this  period  with  a  shallow  tribe  of  virtuosos 
who  played  nothing  but  their  own  trumpery  fantasies, 
rondos,  variations  and  imitation  pieces  (thunder  storms, 
battles  of  Prague,  etc.).  They  caught  the  ear  of  a  shallow 
public  with  their  jugglers'  tricks;  one  was  renowned 
for  his  trill,  another  for  his  octaves,  another  for  his 
left  hand.  Technic  was  an  end  in  itself  and  not  a  means. 
In  many  circles  music  reached  the  lowest  stage  of  levity 
that  it  has  known  in  modern  times,  and  the  agent  of  this 
travesty  upon  art  was  the  piano.  If,  however,  we 
consider  a  one-sided  cultivation  of  technic  necessary  in 
certain  stages  of  art  progress,  the  career  of  these  pyro- 
technic performers  was  not  an  unmixed  evil. 

The  most  conspicuous  fact  in  the  history  of  piano 
composition  during  the  period  just  following  Beethoven 
is  the  withdrawal  of  the  sonata  from  its  leading  po- 
sition, and  the  rise  into  favor  of  the  short  single  piece, 
based  on  a  different  principle  of  construction.  As  the 
fugue  once  gave  way  to  the  sonata,  so  the  sonata  in 
turn  was  forced  to  retreat.  One  of  the  most  important 
of  the  new  forms,  the  direct  outcome  of  the  technical 
development  above  indicated,  was  the  etude.  At  first 
merely  a  training  ground  for  mechanical  skill  (etudes 
of  Clementi,  Czerny)  it  has  at  last  attained  to  a  beauty 
of  its  own,  a  means  for  the  development  of  the  higher 
artistic  qualities  (etudes  of  Chopin,  Heller,  Liszt). 
The  multiplicity  of  technical  figures,  at  first  devised  for 
purely  mechanical  training,  or  at  best  as  mere  decora- 


216    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


tion,  has  greatly  enlarged  musical  effect  in  every  sphere, 
so  that  in  the  highest  composition,  not  only  for  the 
piano,  but  also  for  the  orchestra,  the  influence  of  the 
etude  is  felt. 

All  these  developments  in  technic,  with  the  works  that  illustrate 
them,  have  received  a  thorough  and  lucid  treatment,  with  abun- 
dance of  detail,  from  Bie,  in  his  History  of  the  Pianoforte  and 
Pianoforte  Players.  The  chapter  on  the  etude  is  of  especial  in- 
terest and  value.  A  very  elaborate  and  scholarly  review  of  the 
etude  literature  may  be  found  in  Huneker's  Mezzotints  in  Modern 
Music. 

Progress  in  piano  manufacture  is  connected  with  this 
subject,  for  the  prevailing  styles  of  writing  and  playing 
must  be  affected  by  the  quality  of  the  instrument. 
Certain  differences  in  writing  and  playing  have  been 
supposed  to  be  due  to  the  mechanism  adopted  by  leading 
makers,  the  English  pianos,  for  example,  being  heavier 
in  touch  than  the  Viennese.  Two  schools  of  players 
have  been  distinguished,  —  the  English,  characterized  by 
greater  force,  sonority  and  singing  quality  (Clementi, 
Cramer,  Field),  and  the  more  delicate  Viennese 
(Hummel  and  his  followers).  These  two  schools, 
never  very  sharply  denned,  tended  to  merge,  and  the 
pianist  of  the  present  day  does  not  devote  himself 
to  specialties  except  so  far  as  they  may  be  forced 
upon  him  by  reason  of  his  own  temperament  or 
physique. 

For  the  progress  of  piano  construction :  Bie's  history ;  Grove's 
Dictionary,  article  Pianoforte ;  Hipkins,  Description  and  History  of 
the  Pianoforte  ;  Fanny  Morris  Smith,  A  Noble  Art;  Spillane,  His- 
tory of  the  American  Pianoforte. 

A  few  conspicuous  performers  meet  us  in  the  early 
part  of  the  nineteenth  century  who  are  chiefly  given 


PIANO  PLAYING  TO  ABOUT  1830 


217 


the  credit  for  directing  the  growth  and  spread  of  piano 
technic.  Among  the  most  influential  was  Muzio 
Clementi  (1752-1832),  often  called,  with  perhaps  a 
faint  approximation  to  truth,  "the  father  of  modern 
piano  playing."  He  was  certainly  one  of  the  first  to 
extend  the  piano  technic  beyond  the  confines  of  the 
old  harpsichord  technic.  This  may  readily  be  seen 
by  examining  his  larger  sonatas  and  M  Gradus  ad 
Parnassum."  It  will  be  found  that  Beethoven's  passage 
construction  was  derived  from  Clementi  rather  than 
from  Mozart.  The  "  Gradus"  of  Clementi  is  still 
much  employed  in  technical  study.  As  a  teacher  his 
influence  was  great  and  permanent,  such  that  a  promi- 
nent group  of  pianists  is  still  known  as  "  the  Clementi 
school."  Among  these  were  J.  B.  Cramer  (1771-1858), 
whose  etudes,  more  varied  and  of  higher  aesthetic 
quality  than  dementi's  "Gradus,"  are  still  greatly 
esteemed ;  John  Field  (1782-1837),  now  best  known 
by  his  nocturnes,  celebrated  as  a  player  for  his  singing 
quality  of  tone  ;  Ludwig  Berger  (1777-1838),  teacher 
of  Mendelssohn. 

The  greatest  rival  of  these  players,  at  one  time  prob- 
ably the  most  admired  pianist  in  Europe,  was  J.  N. 
Hummel  (1778-1837).  His  style  of  writing  and  play- 
ing suggests  the  smooth,  calm  and  exquisitely  refined 
manner  of  Mozart,  whose  pupil  he  was.  He  is  con- 
sidered the  leader  and  the  chief  representative  of  the 
Vienna  school.  His  compositions  —  piano,  chamber 
and  church  music — were  in  his  day  highly  esteemed, 
but  are  now  rarely  heard. 

Hardly  less  renowned  in  his  day,  even  more  per- 


218    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


manently  influential,  was  Carl  Czerny  (1791-1857).  He 
was  a  pupil  of  Beethoven,  and  has  made  himself  felt  in 
the  later  period  as  the  teacher  of  Liszt  and  Theodor 
Kullak.  An  amazingly  prolific  composer,  he  is  remem- 
bered only  for  his  etudes,  which  have  had  a  larger 
service  than  those  of  any  other  writer. 

Among  other  virtuosos  and  teachers  of  this  older 
generation  whose  work  was  especially  felt  were  Ignaz 
Moscheles  (1794-1870),  the  friend  and  teacher  of 
Mendelssohn,  writer  of  excellent  etudes,  sincerely 
devoted  to  the  true  interests  of  his  art ;  Friedrich 
Kalkbrenner  (1788-1849),  the  chief  representative  of 
the  old  school  in  Paris  in  Chopin's  time;  Henri  Herz, 
Aloys  Schmitt,  Carl  Mayer,  Leopold  von  Meyer,  Alex- 
ander Dreyschock.  The  last  conspicuous  representative 
of  the  sensational,  shallow  virtuoso  school  of  the  first 
part  of  the  century  was  Antoine  de  Kontski  (1817-1899). 

Carl  Maria  von  Weber  holds  a  place  somewhat  apart, 
for  his  unmistakable  influence  upon  piano  playing  was 
due  to  his  compositions,  since  he  cannot  be  classed 
among  the  travelling  virtuosos  or  the  teachers.  In  his 
works  and  his  playing  he  revealed  capacities  of  bril- 
liancy and  varied  tone  color  in  the  piano  that  had 
hardly  been  perceived  before  ;  he  suggests  the  "  orches- 
tral "  treatment  of  Liszt  and  may  be  considered  Liszt's 
direct  forerunner.  (Note  the  "  Concertstiick "  in  F 
minor  and  the  sonatas.) 

Probably  the  greatest  of  all  the  elder  school  in  tech- 
nical skill  was  Sigismund  Thalberg  (1812-1871).  Most 
of  his  compositions  are  a  string  of  bravura  effects  with  no 
solid  foundation.    His  chief  merit  lies  in  his  insistence, 


PIANO  PLAYING  TO  ABOUT  1830  219 


both  as  player  and  teacher,  upon  a  beautiful  singing 
quality  of  tone  under  all  circumstances.  "  To  sing 
upon  the  piano,"  he  maintained,  is  the  pianist's  highest 
end  and  aim.  Some  of  his  etudes  and  pieces,  written  to 
emphasize  this  point,  still  have  a  certain  value.  In  his 
rivalry  with  Liszt  in  Paris  Thalberg's  superiority  was 
asserted  by  many  critics.  The  aim  of  Liszt  at  that  time 
was  the  same  as  Thalberg's,  viz.  to  dazzle  the  public 
with  novel  effects  and  the  conquest  of  prodigious 
difficulties. 

Critical  biographies  of  all  the  musicians  above  named  are  found 
in  Grove's  Dictionary.  See  also  Bie's  history;  the  article  Piano 
Playing  in  Grove;  detached  allusions  in  Schumann's  Music  and 
Musicians;  Ferris,  Great  Violinists  and  Pianists  ;  Pauer,  Dictionary 
of  Pianists  and  Composers  for  the  Pianoforte.  Moscheles'  Recent 
Music  and  Musicians,  and  the  life  of  Moscheles  by  his  wife  (the 
latter  work  scarce),  throw  light  upon  the  routine  of  a  professional 
pianist  of  the  period. 


XXX 


KOBERT  SCHUMANN,  1810-1856 

PRINCIPAL  WORKS.— Instrumental:  works  for 
piano  solo ;  piano  duets ;  works  for  piano  and  other 
instruments ;  string  quartets ;  instrumental  concertos ; 
symphonies  ;  overtures. 

Vocal :  songs  for  single  voice  with  piano  accompani- 
ment;  songs  for  various  solo  voices  and  piano  ;  unac- 
companied choruses  ;  works  for  solo,  chorus  and  orchestra  ; 
an  opera  "  Genoveva  "  /  music  to  Byron9 s  "  Manfred." 

Robert  Schumann  was  born  at  Zwickau,  Saxony. 
His  parents  intended  him  for  the  legal  profession,  but  his 
passion  for  music  was  irrepressible,  and  his  controlling 
effort  in  the  later  years  of  his  boyhood  was  to  vindicate 
his  own  choice.  During  his  legal  studies  at  Leipzig, 
1828,  he  received  piano  lessons  from  Friedrich  Wieck ; 
in  composition  he  had  thus  far  been  self-taught.  A 
strong  love  of  poetry  and  imaginative  literature  was 
shown  very  early ;  his  chief  passion,  which  long  re- 
mained, was  for  the  high-wrought  emotional  productions 
of  Jean  Paul  Richter.  The  influence  of  this  writer 
explains  much  in  Schumann's  music  and  critical  tenden- 
cies. He  spent  a  short  time  at  Heidelberg,  ostensibly 
attending  law  lectures  at  the  university,  in  reality  aban- 
doning himself  to  his  musical  passion.  He  had  already 
come  under  the  healthful  spell  of  Bach's  music.  At 


ROBERT  SCHUMANN,  1810-1856 


221 


last  obtaining  permission  of  his  mother  to  devote  him- 
self to  music  he  returned  to  Leipzig  and  plunged  with 
ardor  into  the  study  of  composition  and  piano  playing. 
Apparently  on  the  highroad  to  distinction  as  a  pianist 
his  hopes  were  destroyed  by  his  reckless  attempt  to 
stretch  the  ligaments  of  his  hands,  the  result  being  that 
his  right  hand  was  permanently  lamed.  His  first  com- 
positions were  entirely  for  the  piano.  The  growth  of 
his  reputation  as  a  composer  was  hindered  by  the  diffi- 
culties of  comprehension  which  his  original  style  pre- 
sented, and  the  slowness  of  his  mastery  of  the  larger 
forms.  In  accounting  for  the  steady  advance  of  Schu- 
mann's genius  and  the  appreciation  that  came  to  him  in 
his  lifetime,  large  account  must  be  taken  of  the  inspira- 
tion of  Clara  Wieck  (1819-1896),  whom  he  married  in 

1840,  and  whose  popularity  as  a  pianist  enabled  her  to 
gain  a  favorable  hearing  for  her  husband's  works. 

From  1834  to  his  death  Schumann  lived  in  Leipzig, 
Dresden  and  Diisseldorf,  active  as  composer  and  critic. 
As  conductor  and  teacher  his  influence  was  slight. 
Not  a  rapid  workman,  his  industry  is  shown  by  the 
number  of  compositions  he  produced.  Up  to  1840  he 
wrote  nothing  but  piano  pieces,  most  of  them  in  the 
small  forms.    Then  comes  the  great  song  year,  1840- 

1841,  in  which  about  one  hundred  and  forty  of  his  choicest 
lyrics  were  composed.  After  this  period  comparatively 
little  piano  music  was  produced,  the  composer  devoting 
his  energy  chiefly  to  the  larger  forms,  vocal  and  instru- 
mental. His  work  as  critic  and  editor  of  a  musical 
journal,  1834-1844,  is  hardly  less  significant  than  his 
composition.    A  nervous  disorder,  symptoms  of  which 


222    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


appeared  early  in  life,  finally  developed  into  insanity, 
and  he  died  in  an  asylum  near  Bonn. 

In  sympathy,  habit,  style  and  influence  Schumann 
must  be  reckoned  as  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  romantic 
movement.  With  him  the  romantic  ideal  in  music 
attained  self-consciousness.  Weber  and  Schubert  did 
not  call  themselves  romanticists,  and  were  not  wholly 
aware  of  the  tendencies  of  their  work.  Schumann,  a 
critical  thinker  and  self-analyst,  not  only  moulded  and 
colored  his  music  in  accord  with  certain  definite  poetic 
conceptions  imbibed  from  the  romantic  writers,  but  also 
became  the  literary  champion  of  romanticism  in  music, 
and  aimed  directly  at  fixing  certain  progressive  principles 
in  the  creative  and  critical  thought  of  his  time. 

There  is  no  thoroughly  satisfactory  biography  of  Schumann  in 
English,  aside  from  essays  and  dictionary  articles.  The  most  elabo- 
rate critical  biography  is  Reissmann's  Life  and  Works  of  Robert 
Schumann,  trans,  by  Abby  L.  Alger.  Wasielewski's  Life  of  Schu- 
mann, also  trans,  by  Miss  Alger,  and  Maitland,  Schumann  {Great 
Musicians  series)  are  less  necessary  to  the  student.  Spitta's  article 
on  Schumann  in  Grove's  Dictionary,  like  all  this  historian's  work, 
is  minute  and  scholarly.  The  article  in  Famous  Composers  and 
their  Works  should  be  read.  The  histories  agree  essentially  in 
their  estimate  of  Schumann  and  his  work.  The  letters  of  Schu- 
mann give  a  very  attractive  view  of  his  disposition,  —  Schumann's 
Early  Letters  and  The  Life  of  Schumann  Told  in  his  Letters  (May 
Herbert).  There  is  an  interesting  commentary  on  Schumann's 
early  letters  by  H.  T.  Finck  in  Chopin  and  other  Musical  Essays. 

The  study  of  Schumann  naturally  begins  with  his  piano 
works.  The  most  marked  and  original  features  of  his 
style  are  to  be  found  in  them,  and  in  spite  of  the 
qualities  of  his  larger  compositions  it  is  in  his  piano 
pieces  that  we  find  his  most  marked  contribution  to 


ROBERT  SCHUMANN,  1810-1856  223 

art  progress.  His  very  first  compositions  threw  before 
the  world  a  style  that  was  fresh  and  novel,  and  led 
piano  writing  and  playing  into  regions  of  the  highest 
promise.  With  Schumann  and  Chopin  a  new  epoch  in 
piano  music  begins. 

The  student  should  carefully  analyze  selected  groups  of  short 
piano  pieces  in  respect  to  their  form,  structure  and  the  nature  of 
their  expression.  A  beginning  may  be  made  with  the  "  Papillons," 
Op.  2,  the  "  Carnaval,"  Op.  9,  and  the  "  Kinderscenen,"  Op.  15, 
going  on  to  the  "  Fantasiestiicke,"  Op.  12,  the  "  Kreisleriana,"  Op. 
16,  the  "  Novelletten,"  Op.  21,  the  "  Nachtstiicke,"  Op.  23,  and  the 
"  Faschingsschwank  aus  Wien,"  Op.  26. 

Compared  with  the  music  of  Schumann's  predecessors 
we  find  a  concentration  before  unknown  except  in  the 
preludes  and  fugues  of  Bach.  So  far  as  influences  can 
be  traced  we  are  drawn  to  Bach  and  the  last  sonatas 
of  Beethoven  (compare  e.  g.  the  scherzo  of  Beethoven's 
sonata,  Op.  106).  Schumann  breaks  from  the  method 
and  treatment  of  the  classic  sonata  writers.  The 
noticeable  traits  are  solidity  and  vigor;  compression  of 
ideas  into  the  smallest  possible  space ;  complete  depart- 
ure from  the  classic  style  with  its  flowing  outlines, 
cantabile  themes  and  scale  and  arpeggio  ornamentation. 
With  Schumann  the  unit  is  the  chord,  usually  the 
broken  chord,  with  predominance  of  chromatic  harmony 
and  abrupt  modulation.  The  tone  is  massive,  the  chord 
often  extended  beyond  the  octave,  the  middle  and  lower 
parts  are  enriched  and  often  given  melodic  freedom. 
The  ornamentation  is  a  florid  tracery ;  scale  passages, 
arpeggios  and  trills  are  avoided.  A  still  more  marked 
feature  is  the  variety  and  originality  of  rhythm  and  an 


224    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


almost  excessive  fondness  for  displaced  accents  and 
syncopations.  Sequences  play  a  large  part  in  the  struc- 
ture. 

A  new  technic  is  required  in  the  execution  of  these 
pieces.  The  fingers  work  more  together  in  grasping 
large  masses  of  chords ;  elastic  strength  is  demanded  in 
the  wrists  and  arms.  Song-like  movements  at  the  same 
time  abound,  involving  a  study  of  the  pressure  touch 
and  full,  long  sustained  tone. 

The  majority  of  these  pieces  are  grouped  in  sets, 
usually  connected  by  a  poetic  idea.  Single  pieces  are 
also  often  constructed  by  piecing  together  a  number  of 
unrelated  short  forms,  with  a  repetition  of  one  or  more, 
producing  what  may  be  called  a  very  loose  and  free 
kind  of  rondo  ("  Novelette,"  No.  1 ;  "  Blumenstiick  "  ). 

Of  the  first  importance  in  the  study  of  Schumann  is 
the  frequency  of  poetic  titles  in  his  piano  pieces,  and  the 
relation  between  the  titles  and  the  musical  style  and 
contents.  This  point  is  of  the  greatest  significance  in 
the  history  of  modern  music,  indicating  a  change  in  the 
point  of  view  of  later  composers  as  compared  with  the 
classic  school.  Schumann  found  an  inspiration  to  musi- 
cal creation  in  definite  describable  motives  drawn  from 
external  life  and  the  inner  world  of  emotion,  and  was 
thus  able  to  lead  instrumental  music  into  unexplored 
regions. 

Schumann  paused  at  the  threshold  of  "  programme  " 
music.  He  did  not  depict  a  succession  of  scenes  in  a 
single  continuous  work.  His  pieces  with  titles  are 
simply  mood  pictures  and  present  a  single  thought  or 
image.    There  is  little  suggestion  of  external  sound  01 


ROBERT  SCHUMANN,  1810-1856 


225 


movement.  The  subjects  chosen  throw  an  interesting 
light  upon  Schumann's  tastes  and  mental  habits.  He 
was  the  first  to  bring  child  life  into  music.  His  piano 
music  is  the  work  of  one  who,  although  aloof  from 
active  life,  looks  upon  it  with  the  mind  of  visionary  and 
confident  youth,  seeing  only  its  joy  and  promise. 

The  fact  that  Schumann  usually  gave  the  piece  its 
title  after  it  was  written  does  not  alter  the  signifi- 
cance of  this  effort  to  bring  music  and  poetry  into  asso- 
ciation. 

Intermingled  with  the  short  "  character  "  pieces  are  a 
few  piano  works  of  larger  scale,  which  contain  some  of 
Schumann's  noblest  inspirations.  He  essays  a  developed 
thematic  style  with  increasing  success.  They  belong  to 
the  new  school,  however,  in  their  tendency  to  emphasize 
details  and  episodes  instead  of  subordinating  them  to 
the  general  scheme  of  design,  and  in  their  bold  experi- 
ments in  tone  color.  Chief  of  these  are  the  sonata  in  F 
sharp  minor,  the  fantasie  in  C,  the  "  Etudes  sympho- 
niques  "  and  the  concerto  in  A  minor,  —  the  latter  one 
of  the  finest  works  of  its  class. 

There  is  an  abundance  of  profitable  discussion  of  Schumann's 
piano  music.  Especially  recommended :  Bie,  History  of  the  Piano- 
forte and  Pianoforte  Players  (a  thorough  analysis)  ;  Grove's  Dic- 
tionary, article  Schumann  ;  Reissmann,  Life  of  Schumann  ;  Hadow, 
Studies  in  Modern  Music,  vol.  i;  Ehlert,  From  the  Tone  World. 

Schumann's  songs  should  have  careful  study,  for 
some  of  his  finest  qualities  are  shown  in  them.  The 
comparison  with  Schubert  is  inevitable.  He  is  less 
artless  and  spontaneous  than  Schubert,  and  more 
limited  in  range ;  in  delicacy,  refinement  and  subtle 

15 


226    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


penetration  into  congenial  poetic  moods  he  is  unsur- 
passed. Inferior  to  Schubert  in  melodic  invention,  he 
relied  for  expression  more  upon  harmony  and  rhythm. 
The  accompaniment  is  often  a  more  important  factor 
than  the  voice  part.  Sometimes  the  voice  part  is  made 
up  of  disjointed  fragments  of  tune,  while  the  melody  as 
a  whole  is  carried  by  the  piano.  The  voice  part  often 
ends  with  a  dissonant  chord  or  in  the  middle  of  a 
phrase,  the  period  and  the  cadence  being  completed  by 
the  piano.  The  richly  involved,  concentrated  style  of 
his  piano  works  appears  again  in  his  songs.  There  is  a 
closer  characterization  of  the  finer  shades  of  text  ex- 
pression in  Schumann  than  in  Schubert,  a  more  plastic 
moulding  of  musical  form  over  the  verse,  a  deeper 
interpenetration  of  poetic  sentiment  and  musical  struc- 
ture. A  declamatory  style  of  unprecedented  terseness 
and  brevity  appears  in  the  "  Dichterliebe  "  of  Heine, 
Op.  48. 

Schumann's  refined  literary  taste  is  shown  in  his 
choice  of  poems.  A  careful  examination  of  the  poetry 
on  the  student's  part  must  always  precede  the  reading 
of  the  songs.  It  will  be  found  that  he  excelled  in  the 
expression  of  moods  inspired  by  the  more  retired  scenes 
of  nature,  and  the  deeper,  more  spiritual  experiences  of 
the  heart.  His  prevailing  tone  is  that  of  pensiveness, 
he  does  not  sound  the  lowest  depths  of  pathos  or 
tragedy.  It  is  as  though  he  expressed  the  view  of  a 
sympathetic  observer  of  life  rather  than  a  profound 
personal  experience.  Beyond  all  other  song  writers 
does  he  seem  to  be  able  to  enter  imaginatively  into  the 
soul-life  of  woman,   as  in  the    "  Frauen-Liebe  und 


ROBERT  SCHUMANN,  1810-1850 


227 


Leben  "  of  Chamisso,  Op.  42.  A  very  large  proportion 
of  the  songs  deal  with  love.  It  is  to  be  noted  that 
about  one  hundred  and  forty  of  the  two  hundred  or 
more  songs  were  written  in  1840,  under  the  inspiration 
of  his  love  for  Clara  Wieck.  The  greater  number  of 
Schumann's  finest  lyrics  are  contained  in  the  "  Lieder- 
kreis"  (Heine),  Op.  24;  "  Myrthen "  (Op.  25); 
"  Liederkreis  "  (Eichendorff ),  Op.  39  ;  "  Frauen-Liebe 
und  Leben"  (Chamisso),  Op.  42,  and  " Dichterliebe 99 
(Heine),  Op.  48. 

Grove's  Dictionary,  articles  Schumann  and  Song ;  Finck,  Songs 
and  Song  Writers ;  Reissmann,  Life  of  Schumann ;  Hadow,  Studies 
in  Modern  Music  ;  Ehlert,  From  the  Tone  World  ;  Hueffer,  Richard 
Wagner  and  the  Music  of  the  Future;  Elson,  History  of  German 
Song. 

Schumann  wrote  five  symphonies,  including  the 
"  Overture,  Scherzo  and  Finale."  Opinions  of  their 
value  differ  somewhat,  but  they  are  certainly  among 
the  most  important  of  their  kind  in  the  period  succeed- 
ing Beethoven.  Although  containing  beautiful  and 
original  ideas,  they  are  defective  in  sustained  power  of 
development  and  in  orchestration.  The  B  flat  sym- 
phony is  especially  notable  for  its  fresh  and  sparkling 
brilliancy;  the  C  major  and  E  flat  for  breadth  and 
majesty ;  the  D  minor  for  the  originality  and  romantic 
quality  of  its  themes  and  coloring,  and  especially  for 
the  novelty  of  its  form,  the  work  being  continuous  and 
the  movements  having  some  of  their  themes  in  common. 
A  "  poetic "  tendency  is  shown  in  the  titles  of  the 
"Spring"  (B  flat)  and  "Cologne"  (E  flat)  symphonies, 
although  they  are  not,  as  Mr.  Henderson  calls  them  in 


228    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


Preludes  and  Studies,  true  "  programme  symphonies." 
Probably  Schumann's  strongest  orchestral  writing  is  in 
some  of  his  overtures,  particularly  the  *  Manfred." 

Some  of  the  chamber  works  take  a  high  rank,  partic- 
ularly the  string  quartets  and  the  piano  quintet  in 
E  flat,  Op.  44.  Many  consider  the  latter  Schumann's 
most  perfect  work. 

For  the  symphonies  and  chamber  works,  the  books  and  articles 
above  cited;  also  Henderson,  Preludes  and  Studies:  Schumann's 
Programme  Symphonies ;  Weingartner,  in  his  very  instructive  little 
book,  The  Symphony  since  Beethoven,  analyzes  Schumann's  defects 
as  a  symphonist. 

The  most  important  of  Schumann's  work  for  solos, 
chorus  and  orchestra  are  u  Faust,"  "  Paradise  and  the 
Peri"  and  "Manfred."  Although  these  works  are 
unequal,  they  contain  some  of  Schumann's  noblest 
inspirations.  The  "  Faust "  consists  of  a  setting  of 
scenes  from  Goethe's  poem.  The  third  part  —  the 
apotheosis  of  Faust —  which  was  written  before  the 
other  two  parts,  is  much  the  finest.  The  magnificent 
closing  chorus  has  been  criticised  as  inappropriate  to 
the  nrystical  sentiment  of  the  text.  The  most  popular 
of  Schumann's  works  of  this  class  is  "  Paradise  and  the 
Peri,"  the  subject  taken  from  Thomas  Moore's  "  Lalla 
Rookh."  This  work  is  a  contribution  to  modern  musi- 
cal styles  in  that  it  treats  a  romantic  story  in  oratorio 
form  instead  of  dramatic.  The  sweetness  of  the  music 
is  perhaps  too  unrelieved,  resulting  in  frequent  monot- 
ony of  treatment,  but  in  many  points  it  is  Schumann's 
most  successful  work  for  orchestra  and  chorus. 

The  opera  "  Genoveva,"  although  abounding  in  beau- 


ROBERT  SCHUMANN,  1810-1856  229 


ties,  was  a  failure.  Schumann  did  not  possess  the 
theatrical  instinct.  It  has  been  called  ua  gigantic 
durchcomponirtes  Lied." 

References  as  above,  especially  the  article  Schumann  in  Grove's 
Dictionary.  The  plot  of  "  Genoveva  "  may  be  found  in  Streatf eild, 
The  Opera ;  and  Annesley,  The  Standard  Opera  Glass. 

The  founding  of  Schumann's  paper,  "  Die  neue 
Zeitschrift  fur  Musik"  in  Leipzig,  in  1834,  opened  a 
new  era  in  musical  criticism.  He  edited  the  paper  at 
first  with  others,  afterwards  alone,  for  ten  years,  and 
exerted  an  influence  that  is  felt  even  to  the  present  day. 
Schumann's  qualifications  for  critical  work  were  com- 
plete technical  knowledge,  great  readiness  of  literary  ex- 
pression, keen  insight,  high  ideals,  and  broad  sympathies. 
His  criticism  must  be  recognized  as  one  of  the  forces 
which,  together  with  his  own  compositions  and  those  of 
Mendelssohn,  Chopin,  Berlioz,  Liszt  and  Wagner,  revo- 
lutionized the  musical  taste  of  the  time  and  established 
new  ideals,  and  methods.  The  foremost  literary  champion 
of  romanticism,  he  nevertheless  considered  romanticism 
not  a  destroyer  but  a  fulfiller  of  the  classic  law,  and 
labored  with  all  his  might  to  revive  an  appreciation  of 
the  great  masters  of  the  past.  He  did  valuable  service 
in  calling  attention  to  the  merits  of  new  composers. 
His  prophetic  greeting  to  Chopin  and  (later)  to  Brahms 
is  notable.  Certain  limitations  appear,  e.  g.  his  un- 
certain and  vacillating  attitude  towards  Wagner's 
"  Tannhauser." 

The  reader  of  Schumann's  essays  will  find  marked 
differences  of  literary  style.  In  the  earlier  papers  Schu- 
mann loved  to  express  his  judgments  in  high-flown, 


230     THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


sentimental  fashion,  with  quaint  conceits  and  enigmatic 
aphorisms.  Examples :  u  An  Opus  2  "  and  "  The  His- 
torico-Artistic  Ball."  We  find  strange  names  of  imagi- 
nary characters,  such  as  "Florestan"  and  "Eusebius," 
who  really  represent  different  sides  of  his  own  tempera- 
ment (compare  the  "Florestan  and  Eusebius"  sonata, 
Op.  11,  "  Carnaval,"  "  Davidsbiindlertanze  ").  The  con- 
federacy of  the  "Davidites"  (viz.  his  own  convictions 
and  antipathies)  wage  war  against  the  "  Philistines. " 
These  fantasies  wearied  him  at  last,  and  he  adopted 
a  more  serious  style  of  criticism.  Among  his  more 
important  essays  may  be  named  those  on  Schubert's 
C  major  symphony,  Berlioz'  symphony,  "  An  Episode  in 
the  Life  of  an  Artist,"  Mendelssohn's  "  St.  Paul "  and 
Meyerbeer's  "  The  Huguenots." 

A  number  of  Schumann's  critical  papers  have  been  selected  and 
translated  into  English  by  Fanny  Raymond  Ritter :  Music  and 
Musicians,  2  vols.  Discussion  of  Schumann's  literary  work  will  be 
found  in  the  references  above  given.  See  especially  the  article  in 
Grove's  Dictionary. 

The  Songs  of  Robert  Franz  (1815-1892)  merit  a 
prominent  place  in  the  history  of  the  Lied.  In  some 
of  the  most  refined  qualities  of  this  art  form  they  are  not 
surpassed.  Their  expression  is  even  more  concentrated 
and  subtle  than  in  the  songs  of  Schumann  ;  the  blending 
of  poetry  and  music  is  complete.  In  grace  of  melody, 
richness  of  harmony  and  exquisite  delicacy  of  finish  they 
are  masterpieces  without  rival.  The  appropriateness  of 
musical  treatment  to  the  sentiment  of  the  verse  is  infal- 
lible. They  may  be  compared  to  the  finest  miniature 
painting  or  carved  work.    Yet  they  do  not  lack  breadth 


ROBERT  SCHUMANN,  1810-1856  231 

and  force.  Franz  was  a  master  of  mood,  from  sportive- 
ness  to  pathos.  He  did  not  attempt  the  portrayal  of 
dramatic  passion  or  stirring  movement. 

In  studying  his  technical  method  the  student  will 
notice  the  brevity  of  many  songs,  due  to  the  shortness  of 
the  poem  and  Franz'  dislike  to  repeating  words ;  the 
frequent  ending  of  a  song  with  a  key  or  harmony  differ- 
ent from  that  of  the  beginning ;  the  interruption  of  the 
voice  part  for  an  instrumental  passage  where  a  change 
of  mood  is  imminent ;  the  subtle  mingling  of  major  and 
minor  tonality  in  order  to  express  delicate  changes  of 
meaning ;  the  influence  of  the  German  folk  song  and 
the  chorale ;  occasional  employment  of  progressions 
founded  upon  the  old  church  modes;  the  influence  of 
Bach  shown  in  the  intricacy  and  smoothness  of  the 
accompaniment.  These  songs  are  a  sort  of  touchstone 
of  musical  taste.  They  require  an  appreciation  of  the 
most  intimate  truth  of  poetic  feeling  and  of  the  finest 
shades  of  color.  Their  growing  fame  shows  that  some 
of  the  most  permanent  tilings  in  art  are  the  shyest  and 
apparently  the  most  fragile. 

There  are  a  number  of  editions  of  Franz'  songs,  both  complete 
and  selected.  Excellent  biography  and  critical  study  of  Franz  in 
Famous  Composers  and  their  Works,  series  i.  See  also  article  by 
H.  T.  Finck  in  Century  Magazine,  June,  1893  ;  Finck,  Songs  and 
Song  Writers;  Elson,  History  of  German  Song;  Hueffer,  Richard 
Wagner  and  the  Music  of  the  Future. 


XXXI 


FELIX  MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY,  1809-1847 

PUBLISHED  WORKS.  —  Vocal :  Two  oratorios  and 
a  fragment  of  another  ;  psalms,  hymns,  motets  ;  religious 
cantatas  ;  music  to  Sophocles'  "  Antigone  99  and  "  (Edipus" 
and  Racine's  "  Athalie  99 ;  music  to  Goethe's  "  Walpurgis 
Nacht 99  ;  male  choruses  and  mixed  choruses,  some  without 
accompaniment,  some  with  orchestra  ;  songs  for  single  voice 
and  piano  ;  a  comic  opera  ;  a  few  numbers  for  an  opera, 
"  LoreleyT 

Instrumental:  Four  symphonies;  concert  overtures; 
quartets,  quintets,  trios,  duets  and  other  chamber  works  ; 
piano  solos  ;  %  piano  concertos  ;  1  violin  concerto  ;  sonatas, 
preludes  and  fugues  for  the  organ. 

There  is  a  large  quantity  of  unpublished  music  in  the 
Berlin  royal  library. 

The  opinion  of  the  musical  world  is  still  divided  over 
the  question  of  the  value  of  Mendelssohn's  work.  The 
opposition  that  was  but  little  felt  during  his  lifetime 
has  been  steadily  gaining  ground,  and  in  many  quarters 
to-day  depreciation  is  as  excessive  as  the  former  lauda- 
tion. Judgment  of  Mendelssohn's  music  depends 
largely  upon  the  critic's  attitude  towards  the  aesthetic 
principles  which  have  divided  the  musical  world  into 
two  warring  camps.    If  the  value  of  Mendelssohn's 


FELIX  MENDELSSOHN-BARTIIOLDY,  1809-1847  233 


influence  is  in  question  there  can  hardly  be  a  doubt  as 
to  its  nature.  Mendelssohn  was  not  one  of  those  who, 
like  Beethoven,  Weber,  Schubert,  Schumann,  Berlioz, 
Liszt  and  Wagner,  opened  new  regions  of  expression  and 
shifted  the  aesthetic  ideal  upon  new  foundations.  His 
mission  was  the  more  thankless,  but  perhaps  equally 
important  one  of  reasserting  classic  principles  through 
his  own  works  and  his  interpretation  of  the  older  mas- 
ters, putting  a  check  upon  a  too  hasty  radicalism,  main- 
taining the  conservative  position  which  is  necessary  for 
health  in  art.  Place  him  over  against  Liszt  and  Berlioz 
and  his  character  and  motive  will  be  understood.  His 
musical  education  was  based  on  Bach,  Handel,  Haydn, 
Mozart  and  Beethoven.  His  endeavor  was  to  recall  the 
taste  of  his  time  to  that  which  is  solid  in  substance  and 
traditionally  regular  in  form.  One  of  his  first  public 
acts  was  the  production  in  1829  of  Bach's  "  St.  Matthew 
Passion,"  which  had  not  been  heard  since  1740.  As 
conductor  of  the  Gewandhaus  concerts  at  Leipzig  he 
made  the  influence  of  the  classic  orchestral  works  felt 
throughout  Germany.  As  first  director  of  the  Leipzig 
Conservatory  he  established  the  permanent  policy  of 
that  institution.  As  pianist  and  organist  he  did  much 
to  popularize  the  classic  works.  His  artistic  creed  was 
disseminated  by  a  large  number  of  disciples  and  imita- 
tors. The  conservative,  even  reactionary,  tendencies  of 
the  time  seemed  to  rally  around  Mendelssohn.  His 
genius  as  composer  and  ability  as  performer,  conductor 
and  organizer  were  reinforced  by  his  wealth,  social  posi- 
tion, culture  and  personal  charm. 

Mendelssohn  of  course  could  not  have  taken  and  held 


234    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


this  position  of  authority  unless  his  music  had  contained 
strong  and  original  features.  He  introduced  a  new 
tone  into  orchestral  music,  particularly  in  the  "  Scotch" 
symphony  and  the  "  Hebrides "  and  "  A  Midsummer 
Night's  Dream  "  overtures.  His  orchestration,  although 
reserved  as  compared  with  that  of  the  "  programme  " 
school,  was  a  valuable  contribution  to  this  branch  of 
technic.  "  Elijah "  brought  a  more  continuous  and 
truly  dramatic  style  into  the  oratorio.  The  revival  of 
choral  composition,  especially  religious,  in  the  nine- 
teenth century  took  its  incentive  to  a  great  extent  from 
"St.  Paul"  and  "Elijah."  His  organ  works  have 
done  much  for  the  schooling  of  organists.  His  "  Songs 
without  Words,"  although  now  somewhat  out  of  date, 
were  much  needed  when  they  appeared,  and  helped  in 
the  creation  of  a  wholesome  taste  in  domestic  music. 
His  violin  concerto  is  still  the  most  popular  of  all  works 
of  its  class.  His  part  songs  and  choruses  are  deservedly 
beloved.  Although  a  very  large  part  of  his  music  — 
especially  his  church  works,  chamber  music  and  piano 
pieces — is  mannered  and  superficial,  there  is  a  residue 
among  his  larger  works  which  appeals  strongly  to  a 
taste  that  holds  to  that  which  is  graceful  in  form,  solid 
in  workmanship  and  genial  and  healthful  in  spirit. 

Mendelssohn  was  born  in  Hamburg  of  Jewish  parents 
who  had  adopted  Christianity.  His  father  was  a 
wealthy  banker.  The  family  removed  to  Berlin  in 
1811.  Felix  and  his  hardly  less  gifted  sister  Fanny 
(afterwards  Frau  Hensel)  had  their  musical  education  in 
Berlin.  Among  Felix'  teachers  were  Zelter,  Berger 
and  Moscheles.    The  home  at  Berlin  was  an  intellectual 


FELIX   MENDELSSOHX-BARTIIOLDY,  1809-1847  235 


centre,  the  resort  of  statesmen,  scholars  and  artists. 
Mendelssohn's  general  education  was  broad ;  he  passed 
through  the  gymnasium,  heard  lectures  in  the  univer- 
sity, travelled  in  Great  Britain,  Switzerland  and  Italy. 
His  voluminous  letters  show  wide  intellectual  sympa- 
thies, keen  observation  and  facility  in  literary  expres- 
sion. He  was  very  precocious  as  pianist  and  composer, 
making  a  successful  public  appearance  as  player  at  the 
age  of  nine,  and  writing  the  "  Rondo  Capriccioso  "  at 
the  age  of  fourteen  and  the  overture  to  "  A  Midsummer 
Night's  Dream,"  one  of  his  most  original  and  technically 
perfect  works,  at  seventeen.  He  was  director  of  music 
at  Diisseldorf,  1833-1835;  became  conductor  of  the 
Gewandhaus  concerts  at  Leipzig,  1835 ;  wrote  "  St. 
Paul,"  1835.  The  Leipzig  conservatory  was  founded  in 
1843,  with  Mendelssohn  as  director  and  teacher  of  ad- 
vanced composition  and  piano  playing.  He  disliked  the 
routine  of  technical  instruction  and  was  not  very  suc- 
cessful in  it.  "  Elijah  "  was  performed  at  Birmingham, 
England,  1846.  To  Mendelssohn  England  was  a  second 
fatherland.  There  was  a  complete  sympathy  between 
the  works  and  tendencies  of  Mendelssohn  and  the  taste 
and  temperament  of  the  English  people.  The  Mendels- 
sohn worship  in  England  has  united  with  that  of  Han- 
del, both  have  gone  to  extravagant  lengths  and  have 
undoubtedly  interfered  with  the  progress  of  English 
music. 

Most  of  the  biographies  and  biographical  notices  of  Mendels- 
sohn in  English  have  been  written  under  the  influence  of  par- 
tisanship, and  hence  are  lacking  in  discrimination.  The  latest 
and  on  the  whole  the  best  book  on  Mendelssohn's  life  is  Stratton, 
Mendelssohn  {Master  Musicians  series).    Among  other  important 


236    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


books  and  sketches  are  the  article  Mendelssohn,  in  Grove's  Diction- 
ary (very  full  and  interesting,  the  work  of  an  unqualified  eulo- 
gist) ;  Naumann,  History  of  Music,  vol.  ii;  Lampadius,  Life  of 
Mendelssohn,  trans,  by  Gage,  a  work  of  slight  value,  but  contain- 
ing interesting  reminiscences  by  Benedict,  Chorley,  Rellstab  and 
others ;  Hensel,  The  Mendelssohn  Family,  trans,  by  Klingemann, 
consisting  mainly  of  letters,  very  valuable  for  its  account  of  the 
composer's  home  life  and  education;  Devrient,  My  Recollections 
of  Felix  Mendelssohn-Bartholdy ,  trans,  by  Natalia  Macfarren  ;  Karl 
Mendelssohn-Bartholdy,  Goethe  and  Mendelssohn,  trans,  by  Glehn, 
contains  interesting  letters;  Moscheles,  Recent  Music  and  Musi- 
cians, abounds  in  personal  recollections  of  the  composer.  The 
article  by  J.  S.  Dwight  in  Famous  Composers  and  their  Works, 
series  i,  is  undiscriminating  and  fulsome. 

There  are  several  volumes  of  Mendelssohn's  letters  translated 
into  English  :  Letters  from  Italy  and  Switzerland,  and  Letters  1833- 
184-7,  trans,  by  Lady  Wallace;  Letters  to  Ignaz  and  Charlotte 
Moscheles,  trans,  by  Felix  Moscheles. 

For  catalogue  of  works  with  dates :  Stratton's  Mendelssohn  and 
Grove's  Dictionary,  article  Mendelssohn. 

Mendelssohn's  two  completed  oratorios  rise  conspicuous 
above  the  great  number  written  in  Germany  since  Haydn's 
"  Creation "  gave  a  new  stimulus  to  this  form  of  art. 
The  influence  of  Bach  and  Handel  upon  Mendelssohn  is 
very  evident.  This  is  more  the  case  in  "  St.  Paul  "  than 
in  "  Elijah."  The  partiality  for  contrapuntal  treatment 
in  the  choruses  of  "St.  Paul"  and  the  introduction 
of  the  chorale  show  a  pronounced  leaning  upon  Bach. 
The  use  of  chorale  tunes  in  a  concert  oratorio  has  no 
such  appropriateness  as  it  has  in  Bach's  church  composi- 
tions. The  strongest  and  most  original  feature  is  the 
characterization  of  the  three  rival  religions,  viz.  the 
tranquillity  and  spiritual  earnestness  of  the  Christian 
(choruses,  "  Happy  and  Blessed  are  They  "  and  "  O  Great 
is  the  Depth  "),  the  hard  fanaticism  of  the  Jewish  (chorus, 


FELIX  MENDELSSOIIN-BARTHOLDY,  1809-1847  237 


"  This  is  Jehovah's  Temple  "  )  and  the  negative,  sensuous 
quality  of  the  Greek  (chorus,  "  O  be  Gracious,  ye 
Immortals  ").  Some  of  Mendelssohn's  most  characteris- 
tic and  expressive  melodies  are  in  "St.  Paul,"  e.  g. 
"  Jerusalem,  Thou  that  Killest  the  Prophets,"  "  But  the 
Lord  is  Mindful,"  "  O  God,  Have  Mercy." 

"  Elijah  "  was  written  in  the  full  maturity  of  Mendels- 
sohn's genius,  and  surpasses  "  St.  Paul "  in  melodic 
invention  and  variety  and  glow  of  vocal  and  instru- 
mental color.  There  are  two  passages  in  the  work  of 
especial  strength,  —  the  appeal  of  the  priests  of  Baal, 
steadily  increasing  to  a  vigorous  climax  of  passion,  and 
the  episode  in  the  desert  where  Elijah  despairs  and  is 
comforted  by  angelic  visions  ("  It  is  Enough,"  "  Lift 
Thine  Eyes,"  "  He  Watching  over  Israel").  Modern 
tendencies  are  shown  in  the  importance  given  to  the  or- 
chestra in  the  epic  and  dramatic  representation,  the  prom- 
inence of  the  arioso  style  of  recitative  and  the  frequent 
inclination  to  merge  the  old  forms  in  a  more  continuous 
kind  of  music,  thus  attaining  a  style  in  which  the  music 
becomes  plastic  and  moulded  by  the  emotional  necessities 
of  the  scene.  The  comparison  between  "  Elijah "  and 
Handel's  oratorios  in  this  respect  is  instructive. 

Of  Mendelssohn's  lesser  choral  works  the  "  Hymn  of 
Praise,"  with  its  symphonic  introduction,  is  the  most 
important.  The  psalms  are  oratorio-like  rather  than 
strictly  churchly  in  their  style.  There  is  a  conspicuous 
fondness  for  dance  rhythms,  the  accompaniment  abounds 
in  empty  passage-work  having  no  organic  relation  to  the 
voice  part.  The  form  of  the  choruses  is  almost  always 
exactly  the  same.    Beautiful  inspirations  are  occasionally 


238     THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


found,  mingled  with  much  that  is  dry,  mannered  and 
conventional.  In  the  strictest  classification  Mendels- 
sohn's religious  music  is  concert,  not  church,  music. 

For  the  oratorios:  the  biographical  works  above  mentioned; 
Upton,  The  Standard  Oratorios;  analysis  of  "Elijah"  by  J.  S. 
Dwight  in  appendix  to  Gage's  translation  of  Lampadius'  Life  of 
Mendelssohn;  Grove's  Dictionary,  articles  Mendelssohn,  Oratorio; 
Schumann,  Music  and  Musicians,  article  on  "  St.  Paul ";  Parry,  The 
Evolution  of  the  Art  of  Music  ;  Henderson,  How  Music  Developed. 

Mendelssohn  wrote  much  piano  music,  but  in  spite  of 
his  ability  as  pianist  and  fondness  for  his  instrument,  in 
piano  composition  he  is  not  at  his  best.  He  did  nothing 
to  advance  piano  technic  or  to  reveal  new  resources  in 
the  instrument.  The  most  noticeable  trait  in  his  piano 
music  is  monotony  of  rhythm.  Comparison  with 
Beethoven,  Schumann  and  Chopin  makes  this  point 
plain.  Certain  stereotyped  Mendelssohnian  turns  of 
melody  and  harmonic  progression  are  found  everywhere. 
His  writing  is  smooth  and  facile,  the  notes  of  passion  or 
pathos  are  never  struck.  The  "  Variations  serieuses  " 
are  his  strongest  work  in  this  field.  Certain  of  the 
"  Songs  without  Words,"  such  as  the  G  minor  "  Gon- 
dola Song,"  the  "  Spring  Song  "  and  the  "  Spinning 
Song,"  remain  favorites. 

The  organ  sonatas  contain  some  strong  music. 
There  is  a  tendency  in  them  towards  an  unorgan-like 
piano  style. 

Bie,  History  of  the  Pianoforte  and  Pianoforte  Players  ;  Fillmore, 
History  of  Pianoforte  Music. 

Far  greater  invention  and  originality  appear  in 
the  orchestral  works.     In  these  Mendelssohn  shows 


FELIX  MENDELSSOIIX-BARTIIOLUY,  1809-1847  239 


himself  touched  by  the  romantic  movement  of  his  day. 
Many  have  titles  and  are  pervaded  with  a  very  truthful 
and  delightful  romantic  color.  They  are  not  "pro- 
gramme "  works,  and  the  classic  forms  are  retained. 
The  finest  of  these  are  the  "  Scotch  "  symphony,  and 
the  "  A  Midsummer  Night's  Dream,"  "  Hebrides  "  and 
"  The  Beautiful  Melusine "  overtures.  Mendelssohn 
shares  with  Berlioz  the  credit  for  the  introduction  of 
the  concert  overture,  based  on  romantic  subjects,  into 
modern  art.  The  suggestion  may  be  found  in  Weber's 
opera  overtures;  Beethoven  wrote  detached  pieces 
called  overtures ;  Mendelssohn's  are  romantic  and  not 
connected  with  dramatic  works.  The  compositions 
above  mentioned  show  the  feeling  for  landscape  work- 
ing into  instrumental  music  ;  they  are  attractive  in  mel- 
ody and  orchestration  and  in  freshness  and  exuberance 
of  feeling.  The  "  Hebrides  "  overture  is  the  most  preg- 
nant in  invention,  containing  none  of  the  forced  and 
empty  "filling-in"  so  often  found  in  Mendelssohn's 
works. 

Another  highly  individual  feature  in  his  instrumental 
music  is  the  light-footed  elfin  scherzo,  the  refined 
essence  of  delicate  humor  and  playfulness.  Examples  : 
overture  and  scherzo  of  the  "  A  Midsummer  Night's 
Dream "  music,  canzonetta  of  the  E  flat  quartet, 
"  Rondo  capriccioso  "  and  E  minor  fantasie  for  piano. 

Biographies  as  above;  Grove's  Dictionary,  articles  Symphony, 
Overture,  Schools;  Upton,  The  Standard  Symphonies ;  Weingartner, 
The  Symphony  since  Beethoven  j  Henderson,  How  Music  Developed. 

The  violin  concerto  is  the  most  admired  work  of  its 
class  since  Beethoven's.    Its  technic  is  perfectly  suited 


240    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OP  MUSIC 


to  the  nature  of  the  instrument,  and  the  themes  and 
treatment,  in  the  last  two  movements  at  least,  are  mas- 
terly.   Its  difficulties  are  not  excessive. 

Mendelssohn's  experiments  with  Greek  subjects  in 
"  Antigone  "  and  "  (Edipus  "  cannot  be  called  success- 
ful. The  "  Walpurgis  Nacht "  has  always  been  es- 
teemed by  choral  societies. 

The  songs  for  single  voice,  although  containing  some 
graceful  numbers,  suffer  fatally  in  comparison  with 
those  of  the  really  great  Lieder  writers.  Many  of  the 
choruses  and  part  songs  have  a  higher  value  ;  they  pos- 
sess a  genuine  Teutonic  flavor,  and  are  pets  of  the  Ger- 
man Liedertafeln  and  Liederkranze. 

In  addition  to  the  books  and  essays  above  cited,  there  are 
interesting  critical  discussions  by  Ehlert,  From  the  Tone  World ; 
Stratton,  in  the  last  chapter  of  his  Mendelssohn ;  Chorley,  Music 
and  Manners  in  France  and  Germany.  In  Wagner's  Prose  Works 
(Ellis'  translation)  there  are  many  trenchant  allusions  to  Mendels- 
sohn by  a  greater  man,  who  respects  Mendelssohn's  personality, 
but  deplores  his  artistic  ideals  and  methods.  See  especially 
Judaism  in  Music  and  On  Conducting. 

Mendelssohn  was  surrounded  by  a  host  of  adherents 
and  imitators,  who  adopted  his  principles,  perpetuated 
his  methods  and  wrote  in  a  truly  Mendelssohnian  vein,  — 
the  so-called  Leipzig  school.  Their  influence  has  at 
times  been  steadying  and  wholesome,  at  times  reaction- 
ary and  obstructive.  The  head  centres  of  this  party 
have  been  London,  Leipzig  (the  conservatory)  and  Ber- 
lin (Hochschule  and  Singakademie).  Conspicuous 
among  musicians  of  this  school  are  Moritz  Hauptmann 
(1792-1868,  theorist  and  church  composer),  Ernst  Fried- 
rich  Richter  (1808-1879,  theorist,  cantor  of  the  Thomas 


FELIX  MENDEL SSOIIN-BARTHOLDY,  1809-1847  241 


school,  writer  of  religious  music),  Ferdinand  David 
(1810-1873,  eminent  violinist  and  teacher),  Ferdinand 
Hiller  (1811-1885),  William  Sterndale  Bennett  (1816- 
1875,  the  foremost  English  musician  in  his  day),  Niels 
W.  Gade  (Dane,  1817-1890,  developed  the  Mendels- 
sohnian  romantic  vein  in  some  very  attractive  works). 
In  the  grades  below  these  leaders  the  Mendelssohn 
spirit  and  style  can  be  seen  diffused  with  greater  or  less 
distinctness  in  the  writings  and  teachings  of  English 
oratorio,  cantata  and  anthem  writers,  German  directors, 
conservatory  instructors,  and  critics. 

Among  the  interesting  musical  phenomena  of  the 
Schumann-Mendelssohn  period,  the  rise  of  the  Vienna 
waltz  and  the  operetta  based  upon  it  should  not  be 
overlooked.  This  form  is  of  course  not  capable  of  high 
development,  but  the  most  prominent  representatives  of 
the  dance  and  concert  waltz,  Johann  Strauss  the 
elder  (1804-1849)  and  Johann  Strauss  the  younger 
(1825-1899),  were  men  of  genius  and  produced  works 
of  abiding  charm.  The  modern  waltz,  which  takes  the 
place  in  society  formerly  held  by  the  minuet,  was  prob- 
ably developed  from  the  Austrian  and  Tyrolese  Land- 
ler  (see  books  of  German  folk  songs).  It  first  won 
an  honorable  place  in  music  history  with  the  waltzes  of 
Schubert,  the  unmistakable  prototypes  of  the  Strauss 
waltzes.  The  form  and  style  adopted  by  the  elder  Jo- 
hann Strauss  were  continued  by  his  sons  Johann,  Josef 
and  Eduard.  The  eldest  son  Johann  is  the  most  bril- 
liant member  of  the  family,  and  his  waltzes  —  "  On  the 
Beautiful  Blue  Danube,"  "  Thousand  and  One  Nights," 

16 


242    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


44  Wine,  Woman  and  Song"  and  many  others  —  have 
made  a  triumphal  tour  of  the  world.  Johann  Strauss 
the  younger  has  attained  almost  equal  fame  in  his  oper- 
ettas, which  are  among  the  most  graceful  and  original  of 
their  kind,  overflowing  with  melody  and  containing 
unmistakable  dramatic  merit.  Among  the  most  suc- 
cessful of  these  operettas  are  "  Die  Fledermaus,"  "  Der 
lustige  Krieg  "  and  "  Der  Zigeunerbaron." 

The  Strauss  waltz,  written  for  the  orchestra  instead 
of  the  piano,  suggests  the  Schubert  model  in  the 
brevity  of  the  individual  numbers.  These  numbers  are 
connected  by  short  modulating  passages,  and  preceded 
by  a  slow  introduction.  The  "  coda "  recapitulates 
the  whole  group  of  waltzes,  or  most  of  them,  but  in  a 
different  order.  The  waltzes  of  the  younger  Johann 
Strauss  are  remarkable  not  only  for  variety  and  beauty 
of  melody,  but  also  for  a  very  masterly  orchestration. 
"  A  Strauss  waltz  fulfils  all  the  demands  that  can  be 
made  upon  this  style  of  music.  It  brims  over  with  in- 
vention and  cheerful  humor,  and  possesses  the  most  fas- 
cinating charm  of  tone  "  (Ehlert).  Under  the  lead  of 
the  Strausses  the  orchestra  of  the  Vienna  court  balls 
has  become  the  finest  dance  orchestra  in  Europe. 
Other  composers,  such  as  Lanner  and  Gungl,  have 
shone  in  this  form  of  music. 

There  is  a  group  of  waltzes  by  Johann  Strauss  the  younger, 
published  by  Knight  and  Millet,  Boston,  with  an  excellent  his- 
torical and  critical  introduction  by  Henry  T.  Finck.  The  same 
essay  appears  as  the  article  Strauss  in  Famous  Composers  and  their 
Works,  series  i.    See  also  Grove's  Dictionary,  article  Strauss. 


XXXII 


FREDERIC  CHOPIN,  1809-1849 

The  fourth  decade  of  the  nineteenth  century  saw- 
piano  music  and  piano  playing  raised  to  a  height  of 
glory  which  they  have  never  since  exceeded.  The  posi- 
tion which  the  piano  holds  in  the  musical  world  to-day 
is  especially  due  to  Schumann,  Chopin  and  Liszt.  They 
revolutionized  composition  and  technic,  brought  to  light 
means  of  effect  never  dreamed  before  them,  and  by  their 
compositions,  their  playing  and  their  teaching  virtually 
trained  the  whole  school  of  virtuosos  and  instructors  of 
the  present  day. 

In  beauty  and  originality  of  composition,  in  wealth 
of  tone  color,  in  the  revelation  of  new  possibilities 
of  touch  and  expression,  Chopin  is  the  bright  particu- 
lar star  of  the  culminating  school  of  piano  playing. 
Among  the  great  composers  for  the  piano,  even  includ- 
ing Beethoven,  the  name  of  Chopin  stands  first  in 
honor.  He  is  one  of  the  few  (perhaps  Schubert  in  the 
song  is  the  only  parallel)  who  have  gained  a  place  in  the 
first  rank  of  composers  by  virtue  of  work  in  a  single 
department  of  composition.  Leaving  out  one  or  two 
chamber  works,  a  few  orchestral  accompaniments  and  a 
small  group  of  songs,  he  wrote  only  for  the  piano.  His 
piano  pieces  are  in  most  cases  short;  they  are  all  in- 
cluded in  a  few  thin  volumes ;  but  they  contain  an  ex- 


244    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


traordinary  abundance  of  ideas  of  the  highest  order, 
combined  and  developed  with  a  mastership  beyond  criti- 
cism, revolutionary  in  style,  carrying  the  art  of  music 
into  regions  of  sentiment  never  before  explored.  Like 
the  fugues  of  Bach,  the  symphonies  of  Beethoven,  the 
songs  of  Schubert  and  the  music  dramas  of  Wagner, 
Chopin's  piano  pieces  touch  the  high-water  mark  in 
their  kind.  Considering  the  fact  that  neither  size  nor 
multiplicity  is  a  test  of  art  value  it  is  not  easy  to  see 
why  Chopin  should  not  be  ranked  among  the  first  com- 
posers. His  works  are  a  source  of  exhaustless  instruc- 
tion and  delight  to  music  students  of  every  grade. 

Frederic  Chopin  was  born  near  Warsaw,  of  a 
French  father  and  Polish  mother.  He  was  exceedingly 
precocious  as  a  pianist,  and  although  after  his  boyhood 
days  he  strove  little  for  concert-room  success,  it  is  cer- 
tain that  he  was  one  of  the  greatest  players  of  his  time. 
Seeking  an  opportunity  to  practise  his  art  which  War- 
saw could  not  furnish,  he  went  to  Paris  in  1831  and 
remained  there  until  his  death.  He  lived  a  retired  life 
as  composer  and  teacher,  little  known  to  the  world  at 
large,  but  honored  and  beloved  by  a  circle  of  friends 
which  included  some  of  the  most  accomplished  musi- 
cians, artists  and  authors  in  Paris.  Chopin  was  a  man 
of  exquisite  refinement,  delicate  and  high-strung,  of  an 
ardent,  and  in  early  life  at  least,  playful  disposition. 
The  prevailing  impression  that  he  was  morbid,  over- 
sensitive and  a  prey  to  dejection  comes  from  the  records 
of  his  later  years  of  declining  health.  The  remarkable 
friendship  between  Chopin  and  George  Sand,  with  the 
final  rupture   and  its   lamentable   consequences,  has 


FREDERIC  CHOPIN,  1809-1849 


245 


done  more  than  anything  else  to  produce  erroneous 
impressions  of  Chopin's  disposition. 

On  the  whole,  Chopin  has  been  fortunate  in  his  biographers. 
The  fullest  study  of  his  life  and  works  is  Frederick  Chopin  as  a 
Man  and  Musician,  by  Frederick  Niecks,  professor  of  music  in  the 
University  of  Edinburgh.  It  is  a  book  of  extensive  and  authorita- 
tive research,  readable  and  of  solid  value.  Liszt's  Life  of  Chopin, 
in  spite  of  its  flowery  style  and  tendency  to  sentimentality,  is  of 
great  importance  as  a  sympathetic  study  of  some  of  the  essential 
features  of  Chopin's  mind  and  art  by  a  man  better  qualified  than 
almost  any  other  to  comprehend  their  peculiar  nature.  Kara- 
sowski's  Frederic  Chopin  is  more  valuable  for  Chopin's  early  life 
than  for  his  Paris  period.  A  very  brilliant  and  penetrating  con- 
tribution to  the  study  of  Chopin  has  been  made  by  James  Huneker, 
Chopin,  the  Man  and  his  Music.  Among  the  biographical  and 
critical  sketches  especial  attention  may  be  drawn  to  the  study  of 
Chopin  in  Hadow's  Studies  in  Modern  Music,  vol.  ii;  it  contains  a 
manly  defence  of  Chopin  and  George  Sand  in  their  relations  to 
each  other.  See  also  Willeby,  Frederic  Chopin ;  Famous  Composers 
and  their  Works,  series  i;  Ramann,  Franz  Liszt,  vol.  i,  bk.  ii,  chap. 
9;  George  Sand,  Chopin:  Sketches  from  11 A  History  of  my  Life" 
and  "  A  Winter  in  Majorca,' y  selected  by  Laura  Wieser,  trans,  by 
Grace  Curtis. 

In  studying  Chopin's  works  the  Slavonic  influence 
should  first  be  traced.  This  takes  us  at  once  to  the 
mazurkas  and  polonaises.  Chopin  was  the  first  to  in- 
troduce the  Slavonic  element  into  the  world's  music, 
and  he  may  be  called  the  leader  of  the  "  national "  move- 
ment in  music  which  is  so  great  a  feature  in  nine- 
teenth-century art.  None  of  Chopin's  works  are  more 
characteristic  and  original  than  the  mazurkas  and  polo- 
naises. As  idealizations  of  national  dances  they  intro- 
duce into  music  an  element  of  absolute  freshness  and 
remarkable  power.    The  mazurkas  are  not  so  well 


246    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


known  to  piano  students  as  they  should  be.  They  con- 
tain a  multitude  of  beautiful  ideas  and  are  masterpieces 
in  form  and  texture.  Their  sharp  contrasts  of  mood  are 
a  Slavonic  trait.  The  themes  are  often  borrowed  from 
popular  dances.  In  color  and  facture  there  is  nothing 
more  subtle  and  perfect  in  modern  music. 

The  polonaise  is  the  dance  of  high  society,  rather  a 
procession  than  a  true  dance.  Chopin's  polonaises  may 
almost  be  called  national  ballads ;  it  has  been  said  that 
they  refer  to  Poland's  political  career,  her  martial 
prowess  and  conquests,  and  her  defeat  and  ruin.  They 
may  thus  be  divided  into  two  classes  —  one  full  of  fire, 
pomp  and  boastful  energy  (polonaises  in  E  flat,  A  flat, 
A,  C  minor),  the  other  mournful,  gloomy,  sometimes 
despairing,  sometimes  colored  with  tender  resignation 
(polonaises  in  E  flat  minor,  F  sharp  minor,  polonaise 
fantasie).  They  are  also  thoroughly  Polish  in  their 
chivalric  force  and  splendor  and  their  sudden  revulsions 
of  feeling.  The  polonaise  in  F  sharp  minor  may  be 
singled  out  from  among  all  Chopin's  works  for  a  sombre 
power  seldom  paralleled  in  modern  music.  Students 
should  be  reminded  that  the  polonaise  is  a  stately  pro- 
cession ;  pianists  almost  always  fall  into  the  error  of  too 
rapid  tempo  in  playing  Chopin's  polonaises. 

Liszt,  in  his  Life  of  Chopin,  gives  brilliant  descriptions  of  the 
mazurka  and  polonaise  as  danced  in  Poland.  See  also  the  biog- 
raphy by  Niecks.  Karasowski  emphasizes  Chopin's  patriotic  love 
of  the  Polish  folk  music  as  a  boy  and  its  influence  upon  his  art. 

There  is  no  other  of  the  great  composers,  except  J.  S. 
Bach,  who  uniformly  maintains  himself  so  near  his 
highest  level  of  excellence  as  Chopin.    Although  he 


FREDERIC  CHOPIN,  1809-1849  247 


was  far  from  attaining  his  full  power  all  at  once,  he 
grasped  the  essential  features  of  his  style  at  the  outset, 
and  his  progress  lay  not  in  new  experiments  but  in 
abundance  of  invention  and  mastery  of  constructive 
science.  In  such  works  as  the  concertos,  the  Barcarolle, 
the  Tarantelle,  the  rondos,  his  writing  is  more  diffuse, 
the  ornamentation  more  flowing  and  decorative,  the 
ideas  less  forcible  than  in  the  works  that  are  accounted 
his  greatest.  His  style  also  touches  upon  almost  every 
province  of  feeling  that  instrumental  music  can  reach, 
from  the  dreamy  and  languishing,  almost  morbid  tone  of 
certain  of  the  nocturnes  to  the  triumphant  ring  of  the  A 
flat  polonaise,  and  the  rugged  grandeur  of  the  C  minor 
etude  (Op.  10)  and  the  first  movement  of  the  B  flat 
minor  sonata.  There  is  no  unexceptive  change,  how- 
ever, from  one  style  to  another  in  the  course  of  years ; 
some  of  Chopin's  most  condensed  and  vigorous  writing 
may  be  found  in  certain  of  the  etudes  composed  before 
he  left  Poland. 

Whatever  his  style  his  contribution  to  music  is  every- 
where novel.  The  composers  he  most  studied  were 
apparently  Bach,  Mozart,  Hummel  and  Field.  The 
influence  of  the  latter  strongly  appears  in  certain  of 
the  nocturnes ;  the  Op.  9  (E  flat)  for  instance  is  quite 
in  the  manner  of  Field.  The  nocturnes  in  general, 
however,  are  so  Chopinesque  that  no  comparison 
can  hold.  On  the  whole  there  is  no  other  composer 
who  so  disappoints  the  critic  that  has  a  craze  for 
classification. 

Chopin's  experiments  in  the  larger  forms  were  few. 
His  concertos  stand  alone,  and  are  unsurpassed  for 


248    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


beauty  of  melody,  elegance  of  ornament  and  witchery  of 
color.  The  orchestral  accompaniment  is  so  thin  and 
pointless  that  these  compositions  have  been  rescored  by 
Tausig,  Klind worth  and  Busoni,  and  such  remodelling  is 
in  this  case  more  than  justified.  The  first  two  move- 
ments of  the  B  flat  minor  sonata  exhibit  Chopin  at  his 
highest  power.  The  treatment  of  the  sonata  form  is 
not  just  that  of  Beethoven,  but  in  nobility  of  themes, 
sweep  of  harmony  and  grandeur  of  tone  the  first  move- 
ment of  this  work  is  unsurpassed. 

The  Chopin  scherzo  is  not  in  any  way  modelled  upon 
the  scherzos  of  Beethoven ;  melancholy  is  as  abundant 
as  joy.  The  preludes  are  worthy  of  more  attention 
than  is  commonly  given  them ;  they  are  sketches  rather 
than  finished  pieces,  but  extraordinarily  pregnant  and 
altogether  novel.  If  any  single  class  of  Chopin's  works 
can  be  put  above  the  others  in  merit,  that  honor  belongs 
to  the  etudes.  All  of  Chopin's  art  is  in  them,  and  by 
reason  of  their  technical  ingenuity  and  difficulty,  and 
the  demands  they  make  upon  every  grace  of  interpreta- 
tion, they  may  be  called  the  high  school  of  present-day 
piano  playing.  The  waltz  rhythm  was  not  altogether 
sympathetic  to  Chopin.  If  anything  in  his  work  can 
ever  be  called  banal  it  is  in  one  or  two  of  the  waltzes, 
for  instance  the  No.  1.  In  others,  however,  for  example 
those  in  A  minor  and  C  sharp  minor,  he  opened  a  new 
vein  of  beauty.  Seeking  again  Chopin  in  his  fullest 
glory  we  are  led  to  the  ballades,  impromptus  and  fan- 
tasies. Some  of  the  posthumous  works  are  unworthy 
of  his  fame  and  should  not  have  been  published. 

It  is  remarkable  that  Chopin  never  gave  poetic  titles  to 


FREDERIC  CHOPIN,  1809-1849  249 


his  pieces  ;  he  labelled  them  in  groups  and  only  accord- 
ing to  general  style  and  form.  This  is  the  more  surpris- 
ing since  he  lived  in  Paris  during  the  ferment  of  the 
romantic  movement,  and  in  close  contact  with  such  men 
as  Liszt  and  Berlioz.  Yet  we  inevitably  apply  the  term 
"  romantic  "  to  his  music.  The  richness  and  brilliancy 
of  color,  the  sharpness  of  contrast,  the  distinctness  of 
mood,  the  vague  and  melting  outlines,  are  all  romantic 
features.  For  sumptuousness  of  sound  nothing  else  in 
piano  music  equals  the  work  of  Chopin.  The  elaborate 
figuration  is  not  merely  decorative  —  something  apart 
from  the  thematic  structure,  as  it  so  often  is  with  Liszt 
—  but  an  essential  factor  in  the  design. 

In  respect  to  the  technic  of  the  piano  Chopin  was  the 
greatest  innovator  of  his  time,  not  excepting  Liszt.  He 
loves  to  construct  his  harmony  on  the  chord  of  the 
tenth  instead  of  the  octave.  For  an  illustration  of  the 
difference  between  the  old  piano  style  and  the  new  com- 
pare the  C  major  song  in  Chopin's  nocturne  in  C  minor 
with  the  theme  for  variation  in  Beethoven's  last  sonata. 
Chopin's  runs  and  passages,  even  his  melodies,  are  often 
so  constructed  that  they  require  a  special  kind  of  fin- 
gering. His  flights  of  superadded  notes,  flashing  like 
spray  above  the  waves  of  harmony,  are  a  feature  sug- 
gested by  Weber  and  Hummel,  but  developed  in  an 
inimitable  way  by  Chopin,  and  made  an  element  of 
style.  The  proper  rendering  of  his  works  also  requires 
an  exhaustive  study  of  the  two  pedals,  not  merely  for 
continuity  of  tone,  but  also  for  achieving  the  most 
subtle  shades  of  color  by  bringing  the  over-tones  into 
perception. 


250    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


Criticism  of  a  very  high  order  may  be  found  in  Huneker, 

Chopin,  the  Man  and  his  Music  and  Mezzotints  in  Modern  Music ; 
Bie,  History  of  the  Pianoforte  and  Pianoforte  Players ;  Finck,  Chopin 
and  other  Musical  Essays.  See  also  Niecks'  biography;  Kleczynski, 
Chopin's  Greater  Works;  Schumann,  Music  and  Musicians:  An 
Opus  2  (the  first  journalistic  recognition  of  Chopin's  genius)  ; 
Hadow,  Studies  in  Modern  Music;  Parry,  The  Evolution  of  the  Art 
of  Music ;  Henderson,  How  Music  Developed  and  Preludes  and 
Studies ;  Famous  Composers  and  their  Works,  series  i.  Mr.  Finck, 
in  Padereivski  and  his  Art,  has  interesting  remarks  on  the  proper 
way  to  play  Chopin. 

There  are  a  number  of  authoritative  editions  of  Chopin's  works. 
The  most  celebrated,  that  of  Karl  Klindworth,  often  prescribes  an 
unnecessarily  difficult  fingering,  but  is  very  suggestive  in  fingering 
and  pedal  marking. 


XXXIII 


PROGRAMME  MUSIC 

The  final  outcome  of  the  romantic  movement  in  in- 
strumental music  was  the  "  programme  "  school,  whose 
recognized  leaders  are  Berlioz  and  Liszt.  The  tendency 
to  make  music  illustrative  of  definite  conceptions, 
bringing  it  into  the  closest  possible  relation  to  the 
inner  life  of  man  and  the  outer  life  of  man  and  nature, 
has  acted  upon  the  art  in  the  nineteenth  century  with  a 
force  like  that  of  an  irresistible  instinct.  Showing  itself 
tentatively  and  spasmodically  in  the  classic  age,  taking 
a  strong  hold  upon  the  minds  of  the  earlier  romanticists 
(Spohr,  Schumann,  even  Mendelssohn),  it  has  at  last 
reached  the  stage  of  a  recognized  principle,  so  nearly 
universal  that  few  composers  of  importance  have 
escaped  its  attraction.  This  "  representative  "  movement 
in  instrumental  music  is  a  detail  of  the  general  impulse  in 
nineteenth-century  art,  proclaimed  with  a  certain  timidity 
by  the  German  romantic  poets,  painters  and  musicians 
and  gradually  developed  and  established  by  the  French 
romantic  and  realistic  poets  and  painters,  by  which  art, 
breaking  the  classic  bonds  of  formalism,  transcending  a 
merely  decorative  purpose,  finds  its  true  aim  in  expres- 
sion in  the  broadest  sense  of  the  term.  The  new  spirit 
declares  the  complete  freedom  of  the  artist  to  choose 
his  subject  wherever  he  lists,  to  find  his  motive,  not  in  a 


252    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


sphere  limited  by  tradition  and  art  "  laws,"  but  in  what- 
ever field  to  which  his  own  peculiar  bent  of  mind  may- 
guide  him.  It  asserts  that  the  subject,  not  authorized 
practice  and  rules  of  form  and  procedure,  should  dictate 
the  method  of  treatment.  It  is  the  proclamation  of  in- 
dividualism in  art,  —  it  is  a  new  Renaissance,  giving 
art  free  play  wherever  the  fearless  spirit  of  man  may 
venture. 

Music  was  seized  by  this  transforming  impulse,  it 
broke  violently  from  the  laws  of  classicism,  followed 
poetry  and  painting  in  their  excursions,  shaped  itself 
anew  to  meet  its  own  demands  for  a  larger  expression, 
and  created  new  forms,  a  new  technic,  a  new  ideal. 

A  critical  term  has  come  into  use  in  this  connection, 
— "  music  with  a  poetic  basis."  (The  student  must 
bear  in  mind  that  this  whole  discussion  applies  only  to 
instrumental  music,  not  at  all  to  vocal.)  By  a  poetic 
basis  is  meant  any  idea  that  can  be  stated  in  words.  A 
piece  of  music  with  a  poetic  basis  is  one  which  the  com- 
poser associates  with  some  explicit,  definable  thought 
or  image,  and  derives  its  style  from  the  nature  of  this 
precise  conception.  Examples  :  Schumann's  "  Carnival 
Pranks,"  MacDowelPs  "Sea  Pieces,"  Mendelssohn's 
overture  "  The  Beautiful  Melusine,"  Wagner's  overture 
to  "  Tannhauser."  The  antithesis  to  this  style  is  "  ab- 
stract," or  "  absolute  "  music,  which  makes  no  appeal  to 
the  picture-making  faculty  and  does  not  suggest  nam- 
able  thoughts  or  feelings,  —  as  for  example,  the  fugues, 
rondos,  variations,  sonatas,  etc.,  of  the  older  masters. 
Works  of  this  latter  class  may  be  called  "  architec- 
tonic "  ;  their  laws  are  musical  laws  simply,  based  upon 


PROGRAMME  MUSIC 


253 


the  abstract  principles  of  form  and  logical  development. 
These  two  methods  —  the  absolute  and  the  poetic  —  di- 
vide the  creative  and  critical  world  of  the  present  day. 
Composers  such  as  Brahms  and  Dvorak  represent  the 
older  idea,  in  spite  of  the  boldness  of  experiment  in 
color  on  the  part  of  the  latter.  Generally  speaking,  a 
composition  with  a  title  belongs  in  the  category  of 
poetic  music. 

Music  of  the  poetic  order  may  be  divided  into  two 
classes.  In  the  first  class  the  music  is  associated  with  a 
single  detached  thought,  image  or  mental  state,  not 
a  succession  of  scenes  or  a  worked-out  story.  Schu- 
mann's pieces  with  titles  are  of  this  class.  The  composer 
strives  to  penetrate  into  the  essential  spirit  of  the  sub- 
ject as  his  mind  conceives  it,  and  the  music  derives  its 
effect,  not  only  from  its  general  abstract  beauty,  but  also 
from  the  increased  vividness  which  it  lends  to  a  concep- 
tion already  familiar.  The  range  of  subjects  is  endless ; 
for  example  mental  states  (Schumann's  "Traumerei" 
and  "  Warum  "),  landscape  (Mendelssohn's  "  Hebrides  " 
overture),  characters  or  events  in  history  or  fiction. 

In  the  second  class  the  musical  work,  instead  of  deal- 
ing with  a  single  idea,  is  associated  step  by  step  with 
a  succession  of  ideas.  The  composer  selects  a  poem,  a 
narrative  or  a  series  of  scenes,  or  invents  such  for  him- 
self, and  then  writes  a  piece  of  music  which  reflects  the 
successive  pictures  or  episodes,  varying  its  style  to  cor- 
respond with  the  changing  phases  of  its  poetic  counter- 
part. This  poetic  counterpart  —  the  series  of  visions  or 
mental  changes  which  the  music  illustrates  —  is  called 
the  "programme."    The  term  "programme  music"  is 


254    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 

often  used  erroneously  to  include  both  classes,  —  it 
should  be  applied  only  to  the  second. 

In  the  nature  of  the  case  the  classic  forms  must  give 
way  under  this  method  of  direct  illustration,  even  to  a 
complete  dislocation  and  readjustment.  The  general 
form,  the  character  and  arrangement  of  sections,  will  be 
conditioned  by  the  poetic  subject.  Characteristic  ex- 
pression will  be  sought  by  means  of  harmony,  rhythm 
and  tone  color.  The  programme  may  refer  to  moods  or 
sentiments,  and  then  the  music  will  exert  its  power  to 
carry  these  moods  directly  to  the  listener's  mind.  Or 
the  programme  may  refer  to  external  objects  or  to  feelings 
that  naturally  issue  in  action,  and  then  the  music  is  more 
imitative,  and  strives  to  indicate  natural  sounds  and 
bodily  movements.  Music,  although  in  theory  purely 
abstracted  from  external  life,  has  gathered  certain  asso- 
ciations and  has  developed  certain  conventions  by 
which  objects,  sounds  and  movements  may  be  imme- 
diately suggested.  Many  of  these  will  occur  to  the 
student.  There  is  an  analogy  between  certain  rhythms 
and  certain  gestures  and  bodily  activities;  agitation, 
calmness,  the  tension  of  effort,  etc.,  are  at  once  indicated 
by  changes  of  speed,  of  loudness  and  softness  and  of 
pitch;  crescendo,  acceleration,  rising  pitch,  may  suggest 
strain  and  effort ;  diminuendo,  retardation,  falling  pitch, 
relaxation  or  enfeeblement ;  certain  instruments  have 
definite  associations,  as  the  oboe  with  pastoral  life,  the 
trumpet  with  war,  etc.  In  fact  the  illustrative  power  of 
programme  music  is  the  same  as  that  of  dramatic  music  ; 
as  in  the  latter  the  cause  or  relation  of  the  emotion  which 
music  symbolizes  is  shown  upon  the  stage,  so  in  the 


PROGRAMME  MUSIC  255 

former  by  the  programme.  Music  is,  as  it  has  been 
called,  an  ideal  motion,  and  has  a  ready  affinity  with 
ideas  that  imply  progress,  change  or  contrast. 

Typical  works  of  the  programme  school  should  be  studied. 
Among  the  great  number  available  may  be  mentioned  Liszt's 
"  Les  Preludes  "  (symphonic  poem),  Raff's  "  Leonore  "  symphony, 
Berlioz'  "  Symphonie  fantastique."  The  programmes  of  these 
works  are  given  by  Upton,  The  Standard  Symphonies ;  the  works 
themselves  may  be  had  in  four-hand  arrangements. 

The  programme  idea  is  of  course  not  a  creation  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  The  thought  of  making  music  illus- 
trative existed  from  the  very  beginning  of  the  instru- 
mental period  (e.  g.  Kuhnau's  "  Bible  sonatas,"  pieces  by 
Couperin),  and  very  naive  experiments  were  made  in  the 
vocal  contrapuntal  period  (e.g.  the  "battle"  and  "rabbit 
hunt,"  by  Jannequin,  sixteenth  century).  It  is  the  vastly 
increased  resource  of  later  composers  that  has  revived 
this  idea  and  given  it  validity  and  genuine  power.  Its  chief 
development  has  been  in  connection  with  that  of  the 
modern  orchestra.  The  immense  expansion  of  the  art  of 
orchestration  should  receive  particular  attention  at  this 
point.  The  classic  composers  did  not  give  much  thought 
to  mere  tone  quality  except  as  a  secondary  object.  Melody, 
harmony,  structure  and  form  absorbed  much  the  greater 
share  of  their  attention.  They  drew,  we  might  say,  in 
black  and  white,  or  in  low  tints.  They  certainly  con- 
sidered euphony  and  smoothness,  but  since  the  strings 
sustained  the  brunt  of  the  effect,  tone  variety  was  com- 
paratively limited.  The  real  possibilities  of  the  wind 
instruments  were  hardly  suspected, in  fact  only  the  natural 
tones  of  the  brass  were  available,  for  the  valve  system 


256    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


was  not  applied  to  the  horn,  trumpet,  etc.,  until  about 
1830.  The  composer  of  the  present  day  gives  untiring 
study  to  the  capacities  of  all  the  instruments,  seeking  out 
ever-new  combinations ;  the  purely  sensuous  effect  upon 
the  ear,  the  sheer  beauty  of  sound  apart  from  the  musical 
theme  and  design,  is  studied  as  a  means  of  expression, 
with  results  of  which  Mozart  and  Beethoven  never 
dreamed.  That  the  new  methods  of  orchestration  and 
the  programme  idea  would  stimulate  each  other  is 
evident. 

The  study  of  orchestration,  as  illustrated  in  the  works  of  such 
men  as  Weber,  Liszt,  Berlioz,  Wagner,  Dvorak,  Tchaikovsky  and 
Richard  Strauss,  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  in  recent  music 
history.  Prout's  The  Orchestra,  2  vols.,  is  a  rich  storehouse  of 
illustrations.  Henderson's  The  Orchestra  and  Orchestral  Music  is 
valuable  so  far  as  it  goes;  a  larger  history  of  orchestration  is 
needed. 

The  validity  of  the  theory  upon  which  programme 
music  rests  has  been  the  object  of  heated  discussion 
from  the  first  appearance  of  Berlioz'  works  to  the  present 
day.  This  theory  involves  the  ability  of  music  to 
excite  the  imagination  in  definite  directions,  not  only 
to  stir  subjective  feeling  and  consciousness  of  abstract 
beauty  in  sound  and  musical  form,  but  also  to  bring 
before  the  mind  an  object  conceived  as  causing  emotion 
and  the  subject  in  which  the  emotion  exists.  It  is 
found  that  programme  composers  rely  upon  the  isolated 
physical  effect  of  sounds,  apart  from  their  connection  in 
the  musical  design,  no  less  and  sometimes  even  more 
than  upon  melody,  harmony  and  rhythm.  The  question 
deals  with  the  extent  to  which  instrumental  music  pos- 


PROGRAMME  MUSIC 


257 


sesses  the  power  of  definite  portrayal,  the  justification 
of  emphasis  upon  detail  for  picturesque  purposes  as 
against  logical  development  of  form,  and  the  aesthetic 
value  of  the  results  in  the  actual  works  of  programme 
composers.  The  comparison  already  suggested  of  pro- 
gramme instrumental  music  with  dramatic  music  holds 
only  in  a  qualified  sense,  for  in  the  latter  the  subject 
illustrated  is  depicted  and  acted  at  the  same  instant  with 
the  music,  all  the  forces  of  impression  blending  together 
as  one  ;  while  in  programme  music  the  subject  can  at 
best  only  be  read  beforehand  and  must  be  left  partially 
at  least  out  of  consciousness,  while  the  sole  immediate 
impression  is  made  by  the  music. 

For  this  reason  a  form  of  music  that  would  be  appro- 
priate in  a  musical  drama  would  not  be  justified  in  a  piece 
of  programme  music  (compare  the  scene  at  the  tomb  in 
Berlioz'  "  Romeo  and  Juliet "  symphony  with  a  scene  in 
one  of  Wagner's  dramas).  The  test  must  be  as  purely  a 
musical  one  as  it  is  in  a  Brahms  symphony;  the  laws  of 
musical  structure,  however  modified  by  the  special  end 
in  view,  must  not  be  abrogated ;  there  must  be  no  infe- 
riority in  sheer  musical  invention.  Above  all,  the  reli- 
ance upon  beautiful  and  novel  tone  color  must  not  go 
so  far  as  to  involve  indifference  to  melody  and  harmony. 
There  is  something  defective  in  a  musical  composition 
which  loses  all  its  interest  when  reduced  to  a  piano  score. 
The  test  of  a  work  of  the  programme  school  must  still 
be  a  musical  test,  —  it  must  be  impressive  as  music,  apart 
from  the  interest  given  to  it  by  the  programme.  The 
music  must  be  the  ruling  power,  —  the  programme  exists 

for  the  music,  and  not  the  music  for  the  programme. 

17 


258    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


Music  cannot  take  the  place  of  poetry  or  picture ;  its 
own  special  laws  are  arbitrary  and  unchanging. 

The  chief  value  of  the  programme  idea  seems  to  be  to 
the  composer ;  his  creative  power  is  quickened  by  definite 
scenes  and  experiences,  and  musical  effects  are  suggested 
which  would  not  otherwise  occur  to  him.  He  ransacks 
history,  nature,  poetry  and  fiction  for  themes  which  he 
may  illustrate ;  national  influences  work  upon  him ;  he 
gives  free  rein  to  his  temperament  and  sympathies  and 
imparts  special  color  and  form  to  his  work  through  the 
effort  towards  self-expression.  No  further  progress 
could  be  expected  from  a  continued  working  over  of  the 
conventional  classic  forms.  The  later  romantic  move- 
ment has  granted  music  new  powers,  has  led  it  into  new 
spheres  of  action  and  diffused  it  through  an  ever-widen- 
ing circuit  of  human  interests. 

What  is  the  value  of  the  new  principle  to  the  hearer? 
Does  representative  instrumental  music  require  higher  or 
lower  faculties  for  its  enjoyment  than  the  abstract  music 
of  the  classic  masters  ?  There  is  a  tendency  on  the  part 
of  many  music  lovers  always  to  look  for  definite  mean- 
ings in  music.  Should  this  habit  be  encouraged  ?  Does 
it  raise  or  lower  the  conception  of  music  as  an  art? 
How  far  do  the  canons  that  are  inherent  in  music's 
very  nature  permit  it  to  go  in  sharing  the  modern 
tendency  in  all  art  to  place  expression,  characteristic 
beauty,  above  mere  decorative  beauty  ?  However  these 
questions  may  be  answered,  it  is  beyond  doubt  that 
the  principle  under  discussion  is  the  chief  cause  of 
the  vastly  increased  variety  in  the  music  of  the  present 
day.    The  mutual  attraction  of  music  and  literature, 


PROGRAMME  MUSIC 


259 


with  an  increased  deference  to  the  latter,  is  the  cardinal 
fact  in  the  history  of  music  in  the  nineteenth  century. 

This  subject  involves  the  most  important  question  in  musical 
assthetics,  viz.  the  limits  of  musical  expression.  The  controversy 
affects  not  only  the  abiding  credit  of  the  works  of  the  past,  but 
also  the  tendencies  of  the  future.  The  student  will  find  the 
subject  ably  discussed  in  the  following  books  and  essays :  Gurney, 
The  Power  of  Sound  (the  most  comprehensive  and  profound  work 
on  musical  aesthetics  in  the  English  language),  note  especially 
chaps,  xiv  and  xv;  Helmholtz,  On  the  Sensations  of  Tone,  trans, 
by  Ellis,  p.  251;  Hanslick,  The  Beautiful  in  Music,  trans,  by 
Cohen  (a  brilliant  work  written  to  combat  the  advanced  tenden- 
cies);  Ambros,  The  Boundaries  of  Music  and  Poetry,  trans,  by 
Cornell  (this  work  may  be  used  to  qualify  the  extreme  con- 
servative position  of  Hanslick) ;  Riemann,  Catechism  of  Musical 
Esthetics;  Hadow,  Studies  in  Modern  Music,  vol.  i,  pp.  131-36; 
Schumann,  Music  and  Musicians,  vol.  i,  pp.  250-52;  Parry,  The 
Evolution  of  the  Art  of  Music,  chap,  xiii;  Wagner,  Liszt's  Symphonic 
Poems,  in  Prose  Works,  trans,  by  Ellis,  vol.  iii ;  Henderson,  Pre- 
ludes and  Studies,  pp.  209-18;  Vernon  Lee,  Belcaro:  Chapelmaster 
Kreisler ;  Huneker,  Overtones:  Richard  Strauss;  Weingartner,  The 
Symphony  since  Beethoven,  sections  on  Berlioz,  Liszt  and  Strauss ; 
Henderson,  Modern  Musical  Drift :  Richard  Strauss ;  Contemporary 
Review,  September,  1900,  Old  and  New  Music,  by  Ernest  Newman. 
The  last  four  are  especially  to  be  recommended  for  critical 
precision. 

For  further  illustration  of  the  programme  school :  Grove's  Dic- 
tionary, articles  Programme  Music,  Schools ;  Upton,  The  Standard 
Symphonies. 

The  subject  will  be  further  developed  and  illustrated  in  the 
sections  on  Berlioz  and  Liszt. 


XXXIV 


HECTOR  BERLIOZ,  1803-1869 

PRINCIPAL  WORKS.  —  Overtures :  «  Waverley," 
"  Francs  Juges,"  "  Roi  Lear"  "  Le  carnaval  romain," 
"  Le  corsaire  "  ;  symphonies  for  orchestra,  and  for  or- 
chestra, chorus  and  solos :  "  Symphonie  fantastique,  Epi- 
sode de  la  vie  oVun  artiste"  "  Grande  Symphonic funebre 
et  triomphale"  "  Harold  en  Italic"  "  Romeo  et  Juliette" 
{dramatic  symphony)  ;  a  requiem;  a  Te  Deum  ;  dramatic 
legend,  "  La  Damnation  de  Faust  "  ;  an  oratorio,  "  li'En- 
fance  du  Christ "  ;  cantatas;  choral  ballads  ;  a  monodrama 
(melologue),  "  Lelio,  ou  le  retour  d  la  vie  "  ;  four  operas  : 
"  Benvenuto  Cellini,"  "  Beatrice  et  Benedict"  "  La  prise 
de  Troie,"  "  Xes  Troy  ens  d  Carthage  "  ;  songs  for  single 
voice  and  piano  ;  songs  for  one  and  two  voices,  small  chorus 
and  piano. 

The  interest  in  the  works  of  Berlioz  is  not  measured 
wholly  by  their  permanent  artistic  value,  but  largely  by 
the  aesthetic  problems  they  offer.  They  apply  the  pro- 
gramme principle  with  startling  audacity ;  they  illustrate 
some  of  its  nobler  achievements,  and  also  its  possible 
abuses.  As  a  man  Berlioz  is  an  example  of  what  the 
artistic  temperament  may  become  when  unbalanced  by 
sound  reflective  judgment.  The  traits  that  make  him 
such  a  fascinating  and  puzzling  figure  were  not  excep- 


HECTOR  BERLIOZ,  1803-1869  261 


tional  among  the  artists  of  his  time.  He  is  the  repre- 
sentative in  music  of  the  romantic  movement  in  French 
literature  and  art  which  broke  out  about  1830  under  the 
lead  of  Victor  Hugo,  and  produced  a  series  of  art  works 
whose  brilliancy,  boldness  and  frequent  extravagance 
have  had  no  parallel  in  any  other  country  in  recent 
times.  The  world  was  searched  for  novel  and  stimulat- 
ing subjects ;  every  means  was  taken  to  excite  the 
nerves  and  thrill  the  imagination.  With  the  subsiding 
of  the  ferment,  works  were  produced  which  at  this  day 
may  be  called  even  classic  in  their  moderation  and  obe- 
dience to  the  eternal  laws  of  beauty.  But  the  keynote 
of  the  movement  was  the  search  for  the  novel,  pictur- 
esque, remote.  The  enthusiasm  was  for  color.  "  Local 
color,"  truth  to  locality  and  character,  distinguishes  the 
romantic  type  from  the  cold  conformity  to  one  general 
method  which  characterized  the  classic  school.  The 
value  of  the  movement  was  in  the  fact  that  it  gave  a 
new  stimulus  to  an  imagination  grown  somewhat  tor- 
pid, and  opened  new  fields  of  expression. 

The  artistic  life  of  Berlioz  was  a  long  attempt  to 
exploit  the  resources  of  music  as  a  representative  art,  as 
though  he  would  widen  its  dominions  to  include  even 
those  of  poetry  and  painting.  The  study  of  his  works 
consists  in  examining  his  methods,  discovering  wherein 
he  succeeded  and  failed,  and  the  influence  he  exerted 
upon  subsequent  composers. 

Hector  Berlioz  was  born  at  La  Cote  Saint-Andre  in 
southern  France.  Going  to  Paris  as  a  medical  student 
at  the  age  of  eighteen  he  soon  plunged  into  the  study  of 
music,  thereby  bringing  about  a  rupture  with  his  parents 


262    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


and  subjecting  himself  to  the  greatest  hardships.  He 
became  a  somewhat  desultory  student  in  the  Paris  Con- 
servatoire, apparently  deriving  his  knowledge  and  in- 
spiration mainly  from  studying  scores  in  the  library. 
For  Berlioz,  although  he  played  no  instrument  but  the 
guitar  and  flageolet,  possessed  an  instinct  for  the  orches- 
tra never  paralleled  by  any  other  musician,  and  he  began 
his  career  as  composer  with  works  for  full  orchestra  and 
chorus  and  orchestra. 

In  spite  of  Berlioz'  extreme  romanticism  he  was  from 
his  early  Paris  life  an  enthusiastic  devotee  of  Gluck 
and  Beethoven,  and  their  influence  can  be  felt  through- 
out his  career.  His  supreme  command  of  orchestration, 
however,  was  the  final  result  of  the  tendencies  that 
were  running  strongly  in  the  work  of  the  chief  opera 
writers  of  the  time,  added  to  his  own  genius  for  instru- 
mental combination ;  while  the  spirit  and  general  style 
of  his  works  were  inspired  by  literary  models.  The  ex- 
ample of  Lesueur  (1763-1837),  who  anticipated  some 
of  Berlioz'  ideas  in  a  feebler  way,  must  also  be  taken 
into  account. 

After  winning  the  "  grand  prize  of  Rome  "  he  spent  two 
years  in  Italy,  but  studying  little  and  leading  a  roman- 
tic out-door  life,  a  delightful  record  of  which  may  be 
found  in  his  Memoires.  From  1833  to  his  death  he  lived 
in  Paris,  bringing  out  his  remarkable  works  one  after 
another.  His  life  was  one  of  incessant  struggle,  contend- 
ing with  professional  hostility  and  public  indifference,  — 
not  surprising  in  view  of  the  novelty  and  difficulty  of 
his  works  and  the  exceptional  forces  required  for  their 
performance.     His  autobiography  does  not  give  the 


HECTOR  BERLIOZ,  1803-1869 


263 


impression  that  Berlioz  was  a  man  of  great  soul,  but 
rather  a  colossal  egoist  who  raged  against  the  world 
because  it  did  not  take  him  at  his  own  valuation  and 
shape  itself  according  to  his  ideals.  His  irritable  and 
exacting  nature  doubtless  exaggerated  the  obstacles 
that  were  placed  in  his  way. 

For  many  years  Berlioz  was  connected  with  some  of 
the  leading  journals  of  Paris  as  musical  critic  and  was 
at  once  recognized  as  one  of  the  most  brilliant  and  witty 
feuilletonists  in  the  city.  Many  of  his  articles,  especially 
those  on  Beethoven's  symphonies,  are  among  the  best 
of  interpretative  criticisms.  He  attacked  everything 
that  was  trivial,  mercenary  and  insincere.  His  range 
of  knowledge  of  the  older  music,  however,  was  not 
wide. 

Berlioz  was  one  of  the  most  hot-headed  of  men,  sub- 
ject to  quick  contrasts  of  elation  and  depression,  a  vision- 
ary and  revolutionist  by  nature,  intense,  even  violent  in 
his  loves  and  hatreds,  passionately  devoted  to  his  art,  to 
which  he  devoted  the  ardors  which  some  give  to  patriot- 
ism and  some  to  religion.  His  music  was  like  himself. 
There  have  been  few  composers  whose  temperament 
was  so  plainly  reflected  in  their  works. 

There  is  no  critical  work  of  importance  in  English  that  is  de- 
voted wholly  to  Berlioz.  Jullien's  large  Vie  de  Berlioz  has  not 
been  translated.  Berlioz'  own  Memoires,  translated  by  Eleanor  and 
Rachel  Holmes,  is  one  of  the  most  entertaining  artist  biographies 
ever  written.  His  accounts  of  many  of  his  experiences  must  be 
taken  with  caution,  for  it  is  easy  to  see  that  his  peculiar  imagi- 
nation gave  an  unnatural  color  even  to  events  in  his  own  life.  But 
in  the  light  the  book  throws  on  Berlioz'  temperament  it  is  no  less 
truthful  on  that  account,  aud  helps  to  explain  many  of  the  charac- 


264    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 

teristics  of  his  music.  There  is  a  volume  of  letters  translated  by 
Dunstan.  Selections  from  Berlioz'  literary  writings  have  been 
translated  by  Apthorp.  See  also  Grove's  Dictionary,  article  Berlioz ; 
Famous  Composers  and  their  Works,  series  i,  article  Berlioz ;  Hadow, 
Studies  in  Modern  Music,  vol.  i ;  Hueffer,  Half  a  Century  of  Music 
in  England. 

Berlioz  claims  attention  first  and  foremost  as  a  master 
of  orchestration,  perhaps  the  most  ingenious  and  versa- 
tile among  all  modern  composers.  No  man  ever  lived 
who  had  a  keener  instinct  for  all  the  resources  of  orches- 
tral tone.  He  thought,  we  may  say,  orchestrally.  With 
him  the  tone  color  was  an  essential  part  of  the  original 
design.  He  did  not  distinguish  between  the  melody  or 
chord  and  the  tone  color  that  was  to  accompany  it. 
In  multitudes  of  instances  the  characteristic  expression 
is  not  in  the  theme  or  the  harmony,  but  in  the  tone 
color.  The  mere  physical  impression  was  an  object 
in  itself.  For  this  reason  one  can  obtain  no  conception 
of  his  works  when  they  are  reduced  to  a  piano  arrange- 
ment, for  the  prime  element  is  gone.  By  emphasizing 
this  motive  in  composition,  and  by  showing  to  other 
composers  the  possibilities  of  orchestration,  he  com- 
pleted a  tendency  and  marked  an  epoch.  Although  in 
his  experiments  in  instrumental  combination  he  some- 
times went  over  the  borders  of  good  taste,  he  revealed 
a  new  beauty  in  music  and  gave  to  composers  a  new 
technical  apparatus.  His  eccentricities  and  bizarre  effects 
(a  duet  for  piccolo  and  bass  trombone,  putting  horns 
in  bags,  trills  on  the  bass  drum,  striking  a  suspended 
cymbal  with  a  drum  stick,  etc.)  and  his  occasional  love 
of  mere  noise  (as  when  in  his  "  Requiem  "  he  employs  six- 
teen trombones,  sixteen  trumpets,  five  ophicleides,  twelve 


HECTOR  BERLIOZ,  1803-1869 


265 


horns,  eight  pairs  of  kettle  drums,  two  bass  drums  and 
a  gong)  are  not  typical  of  his  method.  He  suited  the 
color  to  the  subject ;  he  is  master  of  the  refined,  the  har- 
monious, the  exquisitely  shaded  as  well  as  of  the  fantas- 
tic and  extravagant.  Many  devices  of  his  invention 
have  been  adopted  by  others,  and  have  become  almost 
conventional  means  of  expression.  He  subjected  the  art 
of  instrumentation  to  a  scientific  investigation,  and  his 
Grand  traite  d' instrumentation  et  d' orchestration  mod- 
erne,  published  in  18-i-i  (translated  into  English),  was 
at  once  adopted  as  the  standard  text  book  on  the  subject, 
and  still  retains  its  authority.  This  book  also  contains 
a  chapter  on  conducting. 

Berlioz  was  the  most  consistent  of  all  the  composers 
in  adherence  to  the  descriptive  idea  in  music,  —  he 
never  wrote  a  piece  without  a  title.  His  first  epoch- 
making  work  was  the  "  Symphonie  fantastique,  Episode 
de  la  vie  d'un  artiste,"  in  which  the  effort  to  illustrate 
a  continuous  story  was  carried  out  with  a  consistency 
and  realistic  detail  never  before  attempted.  The  first 
movement  portrays  the  reveries  and  longings  of  a  lover ; 
the  second  is  a  scene  at  a  ball ;  the  third  represents  the 
hero  in  the  country ;  there  is  an  idyllic  duet  of  two 
shepherds  (oboe  and  English  horn).  A  fixed  melody, 
common  to  all  these  movements,  typifies  the  beloved 
one.  In  the  fourth  movement  the  lover,  convinced  of 
the  infidelity  of  his  mistress,  attempts  to  end  his  life  by 
opium ;  he  is  only  thrown  into  a  trance  in  which  he 
fancies  that  he  has  murdered  his  sweetheart  and  is  being 
taken  to  execution  (ghastly  funeral  march,  the  fall  of 
the  headsman's  axe).    The  fifth  movement  ("  Dream  of 


266    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


a  Witches'  Sabbath")  is  a  saturnalia  of  goblins  and 
demons  assembled  at  the  hero's  funeral ;  the  love  melody 
is  distorted  into  a  vulgar  dance  tune ;  there  is  a  bur- 
lesque of  the  old  church  melody  of  the  Dies  Irae  ;  there 
follows  a  round  dance  of  witches  and  goblins.  The 
work  is  novel  in  the  complete  control  of  the  music  by 
the  subject,  and  the  literalness  of  delineation.  The 
completely  original  and  the  most  significant  element 
is  the  treatment  of  the  leading  melody,  which  persists  in 
all  the  movements  and  is  modified,  not  according  to 
the  old  laws  of  theme  development,  but  as  a  means  of 
symbolizing  the  relations  of  a  character  to  definite  situa- 
tions. "  The  changing  and  transforming  of  a  theme 
is  nothing  new.  But  the  variation  of  a  theme  arising 
from  a  perceptible  reason  —  I  might  say  the  dramatic- 
psychological  variation  —  was  first  used  by  Berlioz  in 
this  symphony,  and  is  absolutely  his  own  creation. 
It  is  the  same  kind  of  variation  which  Liszt  expands 
and  perfects  in  his  symphonic  poems,  and  which  Wagner 
at  last  uses  as  an  intense  means  of  expression  in  his 
dramas  ('  leading-motives ')"  (Weingartner,  The  Sym- 
phony since  Beethoven). 

Detailed  programme  of  the  "  Symphonie  f antastique ' '  in  Ra- 
mann,  Franz  Liszt,  vol.  i,  p.  295 ;  Upton,  The  Standard  Symphonies. 

A  form  of  music  cultivated  in  France  in  the  nine- 
teenth century  consists  of  a  medley  of  orchestral  music 
and  vocal  solo  and  chorus  —  a  sort  of  mixture  of  sym- 
phony and  cantata.  This  is  known  as  the  "ode  sym- 
phony" or  "dramatic  symphony."  The  scheme  was 
doubtless  suggested  by  Beethoven's  ninth  symphony, 


HECTOR  BERLIOZ,  1803-1869 


267 


but  the  French  ode  symphony  is  something  very  differ- 
ent from  this.  The  ode  symphony  is  representative 
throughout,  each  division  having  its  poetic  or  scenic  sub- 
ject. The  most  noted  example  is  Berlioz'  "  Romeo  et 
Juliette  "  symphony,  in  which  scenes  from  Shakspeare's 
tragedy  are  illustrated  by  solos,  choruses  and  instru- 
mental numbers.  Of  the  latter,  the  ball  at  the  house  of 
the  Capulets  and  the  Queen  Mab  scherzo  show  Berlioz 
at  his  highest  attainment  in  musical  invention  and 
orchestral  coloration.  In  the  scene  at  the  tomb  he 
wrecks  the  programme  principle  by  forcing  it  to  a  point 
where  it  gives  no  definite  impression  of  any  kind,  musi- 
cal or  other.  The  connection  between  the  imagined 
actions  of  the  lovers  in  their  last  moments  and  purely 
arbitrary  musical  figures  is  wholly  artificial.  These  fig- 
ures have  no  organic  connection  among  themselves.  To 
one  who  does  not  have  the  programme  in  his  memory 
down  to  the  smallest  detail  the  whole  would  convey  no 
meaning.  It  must  be  observed  that  the  true  theory  of 
programme  music  does  not  imply  the  possibility  of  mi- 
nute description  of  action  by  means  of  music  alone. 

Another  notable  work  is  the  symphony  "  Harold  en 
Italie,"  —  not  a  detailed  programme  work,  but  four  sepa- 
rate movements,  each  illustrating  a  picture  or  idea,  viz. 
Harold  among  the  mountains ;  pilgrims'  song  of  praise  ; 
a  mountaineer's  serenade ;  orgy  of  brigands.  The  sym- 
phony is  unique  in  that  it  is  an  orchestral  work  with  a 
leading  viola  part.  Like  the  "  Symphonie  fantastique  " 
it  has  a  theme  common  to  all  the  movements,  but  with- 
out elaborate  psychologic  relations. 

By  general  consent  Berlioz'  greatest  work  is  "La 


268    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 

Damnation  de  Faust,"  founded  on  a  French  adaptation 
of  Goethe's  poem.  It  consists  of  a  selection  of  scenes, 
vocal  and  instrumental,  including  Faust  on  the  plains  of 
Hungary  (introducing  a  Hungarian  march),  Faust  in 
his  study,  the  Easter  song,  the  meeting  of  Faust  and 
Mephistopheles,  scene  in  Auerbach's  cellar,  dances  of 
gnomes  and  sylphs,  scenes  between  Faust  and  Gretchen, 
Faust's  invocation  to  nature,  the  course  to  the  abyss, 
pandemonium,  chorus  of  the  damned  and  of  demons, 
heaven,  chorus  of  celestial  spirits,  redemption  of 
Gretchen.  Berlioz  does  not  linger  upon  the  spiritual 
import  of  Goethe's  work,  "but  rather  upon  the  emotional, 
especially  the  spectacular  elements.  The  task  is  per- 
fectly congenial,  and  he  produces  in  this  work  some  of 
his  most  tender,  passionate  and  original  music. 

There  are  noble  passages  in  his  "  Requiem,"  one  of 
the  most  permanently  satisfying  of  all  his  compositions. 
His  operas  never  succeeded.  In  the  two  Trojan  operas 
and  in  the  oratorio,  "  L'Enfance  du  Christ,"  he  often 
attains  a  truly  classic  purity,  simplicity  and  sweetness. 
Berlioz,  who  was  so  bold  an  innovator  in  independent  in- 
strumental music,  was  timid  and  conservative  in  his  work 
for  the  stage.  His  operas  are  now  not  heard,  even  in 
Paris. 

It  has  been  observed  that  French  romanticism,  in 
spite  of  its  air  of  revolt,  was  after  all  an  evolution,  and 
that  the  spell  of  academicism  in  French  art  has  never 
really  been  broken.  So  with  Berlioz ;  he  could  not  or 
would  not  abandon  traditional  form ;  his  technical  con- 
structive power  could  not  keep  pace  with  his  imagination. 
Neither  was  his  melodic  creativeness  of  the  first  order ; 


HECTOR  BERLIOZ,  1803-1869  269 


in  his  passion  for  inventing  surprising  instrumental 
combinations  the  really  basic  elements  in  music  were 
often  neglected.  His  compositions  often  have  a  patchy 
effect;  passages  of  great  brilliancy  alternate  with  those 
that  are  bald  and  uninteresting.  Repetitions  abound, 
his  harmony  is  often  forced,  he  often  seems  to  strain 
after  effect  with  a  painful  lack  of  spontaneity.  It  is  as 
though  Berlioz  forgot  that  the  power  of  music  lies  not 
in  the  instant  effect  of  individual  sounds,  but  in  their 
relations,  their  combination  and  development.  Berlioz, 
nevertheless,  often  rises  to  greatness,  and  such  moments 
are  usually  those  in  which  an  external  action  is  to  be 
represented.  This  preponderance  of  the  panoramic  does 
not,  however,  permanently  satisfy.  It  excites  admira- 
tion for  its  cleverness,  but  the  note  of  genuine  passion 
is  too  often  wanting. 

Berlioz  has  never  been  able  to  create  a  strong  and 
permanent  body  of  admirers.  Occasional  revivals  of 
interest  in  his  works  there  are,  but  they  are  spasmodic. 
Certain  of  these  compositions  will  probably  endure. 
They  are  the  work  of  a  man  of  remarkable  originality 
and  force  of  character,  they  have  had  great  influence 
in  many  ways,  they  propound  questions  in  musical 
aesthetics  which  will  always  be  discussed  and  they 
furnish  the  illustrative  material  for  both  sides  of  the 
argument. 

"  His  collected  works  have  exerted  a  weighty  influ- 
ence upon  musical  art.  He  stands  as  the  real  originator 
and  founder  of  the  modern  school,  which  is  the  leading 
one  to-day,  and  whose  advocates  are  striving  to  attain 
new  aims  and  the  highest  possible  success.    Berlioz  will 


270    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


always  represent  a  milestone  in  the  development  of 
music,  however  that  school  may  grow.  He  did  not  ap- 
proach, by  any  means,  that  ethical  depth,  that  ideal  per- 
fection and  purity,  which  surround  Beethoven's  name 
with  such  unspeakable  glory;  but  no  composer  since 
Beethoven  —  except  Wagner  —  has  enriched  music  with 
so  many  new  means  of  expression,  has  pointed  to  so 
many  new  paths,  as  did  this  great  Frenchman,  whose 
sheer  inexhaustible  fantasy  only  appears  the  more  pow- 
erful and  rich  the  more  we  try  to  appreciate  his  compo- 
sitions." "  Berlioz  and  Liszt  are,  with  Wagner,  the 
great  stars  in  the  new  musical  epoch,  the  heroes  of  the 
last  half  of  the  nineteenth  century,  just  as  Haydn,  Mo- 
zart, Beethoven,  Weber  and  Schubert  were  the  heroes 
of  the  first "  (Weingartner,  The  Symphony  since 
Beethoven). 

The  critical  literature  in  English  on  Berlioz  is  not  very  exten- 
sive, but  a  sense  of  the  importance  of  the  French  master  appears 
to  be  growing.  Among  the  most  instructive  discussions  are 
Weingartner,  The  Symphony  since  Beethoven;  Hadow,  Studies  in 
Modern  Music,  vol.  i;  Famous  Composers  and  their  Works,  series  i  ; 
Parry,  The  Evolution  of  the  Art  of  Music;  Schumann,  Music  and 
Musicians,  vol.  i,  article  on  the  "  Symphonie  fantastique " ; 
Hervey,  French  Music  in  the  Nineteenth  Century, 


XXXV 

FRANZ  LISZT,  1811-1886 

PRINCIPAL  WORKS.  —  Notwithstanding  Liszt's 
epoch-making  labors  as  pianist,  teacher  and  conductor,  he 
was  the  most  prolific  composer  of  modern  times  except 
possibly  Schubert.  Many  of  his  works  are  so  novel  that 
they  are  difficult  to  classify.  The  most  important  groups 
are  as  follows : 

Orchestral  works  (original),  including  the  "Faust" 
and  "  Dante  "  symphonies,  13  symphonic  poems ; 
marches;  orchestral  works  (arrangements  and  transcrip- 
tions), including  Hungarian  rhapsodies  and  marches  by 
Schubert ;  2  concertos  for  piano  and  orchestra  ;  arrange- 
ments for  piano  and  orchestra,  including  Schubert's 
fantasie  in  O;  original  works  for  piano  solo,  —  etudes, 
"  Harmonies  poetiques  et  religieuses,"  "  Annies  de  pele- 
rinage,"  " L4gendes,"  waltzes,  ballades ,  fantasies,  etc.; 
arrangements,  transcriptions  and  paraphrases  for  piano 
solo,  —  songs,  marches  and  waltzes  by  Schubert,  songs  by 
Rossini,  Schumann,  Franz,  Beethoven,  Chopin  and  others, 
organ  preludes  and  fugues  by  Bach,  opera  fantasies,  15 
Hungarian  rhapsodies,  transcriptions  of  orchestral  works 
by  Beethoven  (all  the  symphonies),  Berlioz,  Wagner, 
Rossini,  Weber  and  others  ;  a  few  original  pieces  and 
arrangements  for  organ  ;  masses,  psalms  and  other  church 
compositions,  including  the  "  Gran  Mass "  and  the 
"  Hungarian  Coronation  Mass  "  ;  oratorios,  — "  Christus  " 


272    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


and  "  Die  Legendenvon  der  heiligen  Elizabeth  ;  "  cantatas 
and  other  choral  works  ;  choruses  for  men's  voices;  songs 
for  single  voice  and  piano. 

The  greatest  single  forces  in  nineteenth-century 
music  are  Beethoven,  Wagner,  Berlioz  and  Liszt.  In 
versatility  and  all-around  practical  capacity  Liszt  may 
be  considered  the  most  compelling  personal  influence  of 
his  time.  He  was  great  as  composer,  pianist,  conductor 
and  teacher.  His  personal  fascination  and  authority 
made  him  the  creator  of  permanent  schools  in  all  depart- 
ments of  his  activity.  As  critic  also  his  influence  was 
positive.  As  a  creative  intellect  and  as  a  supreme  inter- 
preter of  the  masters  of  his  own  and  of  preceding  times 
his  activity  covered  well-nigh  the  whole  range  of  modem 
musical  effort  Without  him  the  musical  culture  of  the 
present  day  would  be  different  from  what  it  is.  With 
Berlioz  he  divides  the  honor  of  the  headship  of  the  pro- 
gramme school.  He  was  not  only  the  greatest  pianist  in 
history,  but  the  whole  school  of  piano  playing  of  the 
present  day  takes  its  style  and  direction  from  him.  His 
championship  of  certain  rising  and  struggling  composers 
of  his  day,  especially  of  Wagner,  was  a  service  whose 
results  cannot  be  over-estimated.  In  view  of  his  in- 
flexible adherence  to  the  highest  ideals  in  art,  and  an 
unselfish  generosity  towards  all  worthy  persons  and 
causes  unexampled  among  the  great  musicians,  he  has 
done  more  than  perhaps  any  other  to  raise  the  honor  of 
music  in  the  sight  of  the  world. 

The  life  of  Liszt  is  of  varied  and  constant  interest. 
He  was  born  near  Oedenburg,  Hungary.    His  father 


Franz  liszt,  1811-1886 


273 


was  Hungarian,  his  mother  of  German  descent.  The 
father,  a  steward  on  the  Esterhazy  estate,  gave  his  pre- 
cocious boy  his  first  piano  lessons.  A  brilliant  appear- 
ance in  public  at  the  age  of  nine  decided  his  future 
career.  He  then  studied  a  year  and  a  half  with  Carl 
Czerny  in  Vienna.  After  the  age  of  twelve  he  took  no 
lessons  of  anyone.  In  December,  1823,  Liszt  made  his 
home  in  Paris,  where  he  was  acknowledged  to  be  the 
equal  of  any  living  pianist.  He  continued  his  studies  in 
composition  which  had  been  begun  in  Vienna.  The 
shock  caused  by  the  death  of  his  father,  united  with  a 
strong  bent  toward  religious  contemplation  (Liszt  was 
always  a  consistent  Catholic),  caused  his  retirement 
from  public  life.  He  was  aroused  by  the  visit  of  Pa- 
ganini  to  Paris  in  1831,  and  he  conceived  the  ambition 
of  becoming  the  Paganini  of  the  piano.  In  1834,  after 
devoting  three  years  to  almost  constant  study  of  the  re- 
sources of  the  piano,  he  again  appeared  before  the  Paris 
public.  His  rivalry  with  Thalberg  (chap,  xxix)  is 
famous  in  musical  annals.  From  1831  to  about  1847  he 
lived  the  life  of  a  travelling  concert  pianist,  and  was 
hailed  everywhere  as  the  one  supreme  master  of  the  in- 
strument. He  gradually  made  it  his  purpose  to  bring 
the  works  of  the  best  piano  composers  to  the  com- 
prehension of  the  public.  He  abandoned  the  life  of  a 
wandering  virtuoso  in  1847  and  took  a  position  as  music 
director  at  Weimar  under  the  patronage  of  the  duke,  in 
order  that  he  might  have  leisure  to  follow  his  genius  as 
composer,  and  also  to  work  for  the  highest  interests  of 
music  as  opera  and  concert  conductor  and  manager.  In 
this  double  capacity  his  work  at  Weimar  was  in  the  high- 

18 


274    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


est  degree  fruitful.  Among  the  performances  of  impor- 
tant works,  new  and  old,  under  his  direction,  the  first 
production  of  Wagner's  "  Lohengrin "  in  1850  is  of 
prime  historic  importance.  Most  of  Liszt's  best  works  in 
the  larger  forms  date  from  his  Weimar  period.  Weimar 
became  one  of  the  chief  musical  centres  of  Europe, 
important  as  a  rallying-point  for  the  new  tendencies. 
Conservative  opposition  to  Liszt's  innovations  at  last 
became  strong  enough  to  defeat  his  ultimate  purposes, 
and  he  resigned  his  post  in  1861.  For  the  remainder  of 
his  life  he  divided  his  residence  among  Rome,  Buda-Pesth 
and  Weimar,  for  many  years  spending  the  summer  in 
the  latter  city,  surrounded  by  a  crowd  of  brilliant  young 
pianists  whom  he  instructed  gratuitously  in  the  higher 
arts  of  interpretation.  He  died  at  Bayreuth  while 
attending  the  Wagner  festival. 

The  friendship  of  Liszt  with  Wagner  and  Chopin,  and 
the  influence  he  exerted  upon  men  like  Biilow,  Tausig, 
Saint-Saens,  Raff  and  many  others  were  of  direct  effect 
upon  important  musical  movements.  The  remarkable 
ascendancy  exercised  over  Liszt  himself  by  the  Princess 
Seyn- Wittgenstein  was  felt  in  his  work  as  musical  man- 
ager and  as  critic. 

The  difficulties  in  the  way  of  a  proper  estimate  of  the  character 
and  work  of  such  a  man  as  Liszt  are  doubtless  very  great.  There 
is  no  satisfactory  critical  biography.  The  most  ambitious  attempt 
is  that  of  Lina  Ramann,  Franz  Liszt,  Artist  and  Man ;  two  volumes 
only,  extending  to  1840,  have  been  translated.  This  book,  although 
diffuse  and  disfigured  by  sentimental  hero-worship,  is  a  much 
better  one  than  most  of  the  commentators  seem  to  think.  The 
author  is  hardly  able  to  judge  the  value  of  Liszt's  works,  but  she 
gives  on  the  whole  a  truthful  representation  of  the  conditions, 
social  and  artistic,  in  which  he  lived  and  to  which  he  contributed. 


FRANZ  LISZT,  1811-1886 


275 


Interesting  and  accurate  accounts  in  Famous  Composers  and  their 
Works,  series  i ;  Grove's  Dictionary,  two  articles,  Liszt,  in  vol.  ii,  and 
vol.  iv,  appendix;  Hueffer,  Half  a  Century  of  Music  in  England; 
Amy  Fay,  Music  Study  in  Germany,  giving  a  lively  account  of 
Liszt's  manner  of  teaching;  Mason,  Memories  of  a  Musical  Life ; 
Niecks,  Frederick  Chopin ;  Glasenapp-Ellis,  Life  of  Wagner,  treats 
fully  Liszt's  work  at  Weimar  and  the  personality  and  influence 
upon  Liszt  of  the  Princess  Seyn- Wittgenstein ;  Finck,  Wagner  and 
his  Works.  Two  volumes  of  letters,  trans,  by  Constance  Bache, 
have  been  published.  A  clear  light  is  thrown  upon  some  inter- 
esting traits  in  Liszt's  character  in  the  Correspondence  of  Wagner 
and  Liszt,  2  vols.,  trans,  by  Hueffer. 

Competent  opinions  all  agree  that  Liszt  was  the  great- 
est pianist  the  world  has  yet  seen.  Both  in  respect 
to  technic  and  interpretation  he  created  a  new  epoch. 
He  closed  the  "  virtuoso "  period  (chap,  xxix)  and  in- 
augurated the  interpretative  period.  In  respect  to 
technic  his  inspiration  was  the  thought  of  bringing  the 
capacity  of  the  piano  as  near  as  possible  to  that  of  the 
violin,  the  voice  and  the  orchestra.  His  transcriptions 
of  Paganini's  caprices,  of  songs  of  Schubert  and  others 
and  of  orchestral  works  were  largely  designed  to  reveal 
the  higher  powers  of  the  piano  which  he  was  the  first  to 
divine.  His  technical  contributions  had  for  their  aim 
increased  fulness  and  grandeur  of  tone,  greater  variety 
of  color  and  the  throwing  into  relief  of  the  inner 
melody  in  polyphonic  work.  The  technic  of  the  present 
day  as  compared  with  that  of  the  classic  period  demands 
greater  development  of  strength  and  flexibility  in  the 
fingers,  wrist  and  the  whole  arm,  peculiar  fingerings  due 
to  the  broader  and  more  dispersed  harmonies  in  chords 
and  figuration,  wider  stretches  and  longer  skips.  The 
position  of  the  hand  and  arm  changes  to  suit  the  effect 
required ;  every  possible  way  of  putting  down  a  key  is 


276    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 

employed,  from  the  loose  pressure  touch  to  the  most 
elastic  staccato  ;  different  touches  are  combined ;  trills  are 
played  with  changing  figures,  or  for  intensest  brilliancy 
with  both  hands  in  single  notes  or  in  chords  and 
octaves ;  the  hands  are  interlocked  and  alternated  in 
runs  and  octave  effects ;  by  means  of  novel  unions  of 
high  and  low  notes,  dynamic  adjustments,  and  by  the 
refined  study  of  both  pedals  the  harmonic  overtones  are 
unveiled  for  the  charming  of  the  ear.  In  all  this  Liszt 
was  a  discoverer  and  revolutionary. 

He  rose  above  his  predecessors  also  in  that  he  conceived 
technic  as  a  means  of  expression.  The  greatest  of  techni- 
cians, he  was  also  the  first  and  still  remains  the  greatest  of 
the  modern  school  of  emotional,  "  dramatic  "  performers, 
whose  aim  is  to  reveal  all  the  possibilities  of  beauty  in  the 
works  of  the  great  composers.  He  learned  and  taught 
the  world  that  the  fascinations  of  a  supreme  technic  do 
not  alone  satisfy ;  the  pianist,  like  any  other  artist,  must 
appeal  to  the  intellect  and  the  emotional  sensibility. 

Liszt's  achievements  as  a  pianist  have  been  exhaustively  dis- 
cussed. The  student  is  particularly  referred  to  Ramann,  Franz 
Liszt,  for  the  fullest  accounts  of  his  playing  and  contemporary 
judgments  upon  it ;  Bie,  History  of  the  Pianoforte  and  Pianoforte 
Players ;  Fillmore,  History  of  Piano  Music ;  Henderson,  Preludes 
and  Studies.  There  is  an  article  of  special  interest  by  Saint-Saens 
in  the  Century  Magazine,  February,  1893. 

Liszt's  piano  compositions  are  divided  into  original 
works  and  transcriptions.  The  line  is  not  a  completely 
separative  one,  for  the  transcriptions  of  songs,  orchestral 
works,  etc.,  are  full  of  original  material  and  are  cast  in  a 
mould  that  was  wholly  Liszt's  invention.  In  such  cases 
as  the  Hungarian  rhapsodies  and  the  Schubert  "  Soirees 


FRANZ  LISZT,  1811-1886 


277 


de  Vienne "  they  are  as  original  as,  for  instance,  the 
chorale  preludes  of  Bach.  The  whole  scheme  and  motive 
of  these  transcriptions  should  be  carefully  noted.  In  no 
case  are  they  mere  transfers  of  the  notes  of  the  original 
composition ;  as  Bie  says,  "  They  are  poetical  resettings, 
seen  through  the  medium  of  the  piano."  The  song 
paraphrases  are  expansions  and  illuminations,  the  melodic 
theme  is  endowed  with  every  conceivable  variety  of 
adornment  and  glory  of  tone.  It  cannot  be  denied  that 
in  many  cases  the  song  is  made  to  surrender  its  vocal 
character  and  even  its  poetic  meaning  to  the  honor  of 
the  piano  as  a  sound-producing  agent.  In  the  orchestral 
transcriptions,  however,  there  can  be  no  question  of  an 
expansion.  Liszt  in  such  cases  (e.  g.  Beethoven's  sym- 
phonies) holds  in  his  mind  the  whole  orchestral  picture 
and  then  recasts  the  score  to  suit  the  requirements  of  ths 
key-board  and  the  possibilities  of  the  ten  fingers  as  he 
had  developed  them,  letting  his  vast  ingenuity  act  to 
produce  all  possible  fulness,  variety  of  tone  and  clearness 
in  the  leading  of  parts.  In  these  "  orchestral  effects," 
which  are  also  realized  in  his  original  works,  piano  tech- 
nic entered  what  is  apparently  its  final  stage. 

Among  the  transcriptions  the  Hungarian  rhapsodies 
have  a  special  interest,  for  they  bring  a  new  element  into 
modern  music.  The  themes  and  many  of  the  rhythms  are 
native ;  the  harmonies  and  decoration  are  Liszt's,  at  the 
same  time  modelled  after  the  manner  of  the  gypsy  per- 
formers. They  are  not  mere  display  pieces.  Liszt,  as 
he  tells  us,  intended  them  as  a  sort  of  national  epic,  in- 
strumental ballads  in  which  the  spirit  and  the  peculiar 
mode  of  expression  of  an  interesting  people  are  reflected. 


278    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


Liszt's  wholly  original  works  for  the  piano  are  thor- 
oughly individual.  Opinions  differ,  however,  in  respect 
to  the  sheer  musical  value  of  their  contents.  They  are 
of  the  advanced  romantic  school  and  most  of  them  bear 
titles.  Their  author's  love  of  nature,  literature  and  art, 
and  often  his  religious  feeling,  are  shown  in  them. 
Among  those  most  held  in  honor  by  concert  players  are 
the  sonata,  the  etudes  (especially  those  in  D  flat,  F  minor, 
"  Waldesrauschen  "  and  "  Gnomenreigen  "),  a  few  of 
the  "  Anne*es  de  pelerinage  "  (especially  the  lovely  "Au 
bord  d'une  source "),  the  polonaise  in  E  flat,  "  Le"- 
gendes,"  "Sonnets"  and  " Harm onies," and  the  concerto 
in  E  flat.  The  latter,  in  one  movement,  is  thoroughly 
novel  in  form  and  treatment  and  in  its  relation  to  the 
orchestra. 

Liszt  has  challenged  the  criticism  of  the  world  in  his 
orchestral  works  not  less  than  in  his  method  of  writing 
for  the  piano.  His  Weimar  period  was  distinguished  by 
his  symphonies  and  symphonic  poems.  The  compiler, 
who  gives  crude  native  materials  an  artistic  form,  is  also 
seen  in  his  Hungarian  rhapsodies  and  marches  for  or- 
chestra. In  Liszt's  original  orchestral  works  he  casts  in 
his  lot  completely  with  the  programme  school,  holding 
essentially  the  same  views  as  Berlioz  concerning  the  de- 
scriptive value  of  music.  As  compared  with  Berlioz  he 
gives  more  effort  to  the  delineation  of  mood,  character 
and  subjective  elements  generally,  less  to  the  panoramic 
and  imitative.  He  is  also  a  more  consistent  romanticist 
than  Berlioz  in  that  he  is  less  held  by  respect  for  old 
forms,  and  he  compels  form  as  well  as  color  and  detail  to 
submit  to  the  guidance  of  the  poetic  subject.    He  is  also 


FRANZ  LISZT,  1811-1886 


279 


a  master  of  the  resources  of  the  modern  orchestra,  although 
less  ingenious  and  startling  than  Berlioz  ;  superior  to  his 
rival  in  musical  science  and  in  plastic  shaping  power. 

The  "  Faust "  and  "  Dante  "  symphonies  are  in  many 
respects  unique.  The  former  suggests  no  allusion,  save 
by  remote  implication,  to  the  events  of  the  Faust  story, 
but  is  purely  psychologic.  The  first  movement  is  a 
development  of  four  leading  themes  which  characterize 
Faust  in  his  contending  passions  and  aspirations,  hopes 
and  despairs.  The  second  movement  portrays  the  inno- 
cent, loving  spirit  of  Gretchen  in  suitable  melodies  and 
harmonies.  The  third  movement  deals  with  Mephis- 
topheles,  who,  as  the  representative  of  irony  and  negation, 
and  who  strives  to  turn  natural  impulses  to  an  evil  end, 
has  no  symbolical  theme  of  his  own,  but  caricatures 
and  distorts  the  motives  of  Faust  in  the  first  movement. 
At  the  close  the  spirit  of  evil  is  driven  away  in  the 
tender  Gretchen  motive,  and  the  work  concludes  with 
the  mystic  hymn  that  closes  the  second  part  of  Goethe's 
"  Faust,"  sung  by  a  male  chorus. 

The  "  Dante  "  symphony  consists  of  two  parts,  the 
"Inferno"  and  the  "  Purgatorio,"  closing  with  the 
Magnificat,  sung  by  female  voices.  In  the  first  move- 
ment the  terrors  of  hell  are  depicted  in  the  harshest 
and  most  vivid  figures  and  colors,  interrupted  by  the 
episode  of  Paolo  and  Francesca  (canto  v  of  Dante's 
"Inferno,"),  one  of  Liszt's  most  beautiful  inspirations. 
The  second  movement  is  peaceful  and  tender,  rising  to 
a  triumphant  close. 

In  the  "symphonic  poem"  Liszt  contributed  a  new 
form.    The  symphonic  poem  is  a  work  in  a  single  move- 


280    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 

ment,  in  which  sometimes  a  continuous  series  of  ideas 
or  occurrences  is  illustrated  by  the  music,  sometimes  a 
single  conception  is  revealed  in  changing  lights.  This 
form  is  a  sort  of  compromise  between  the  poetic  overture 
of  Berlioz  and  Mendelssohn  and  the  programme  symphony 
of  Berlioz.  The  structure  is  fragmentary  and  episodic, 
the  classic  sonata  form  being  abjured ;  there  is  complete 
freedom  in  changes  of  key,  tempo  and  style,  the  music 
following  the  programme  implicitly.  In  certain  of  Liszt's 
works  of  this  class,  however,  the  various  sections  are 
based  upon  a  single  theme,  or  it  may  be  two  themes  are 
alternated ;  a  constructive  unity  is  thus  attained.  This 
device  was  doubtless  suggested  by  Berlioz'  "  Symphonie 
fantastique."  Pohl,  in  Franz  Liszt,  has  classified 
Liszt's  symphonic  poems,  —  "  Orpheus,"  "  Prometheus," 
"  Tasso,"  "  Mazeppa  "  and  "  Hamlet,"  portraying  "  the 
struggle  and  pain  of  a  powerful  spirit,  his  striving  for 
light,  his  combat  with  hostile  powers " ;  "  The  Pre- 
ludes," ''Festal  Sounds,"  "What  is  Heard  upon  the 
Mountains  "  (Victor  Hugo)  and  "The  Ideals"  (Schiller), 
more  reflective  and  general  in  their  meaning ;  "  Lament 
for  a  Hero,"  "  Hungaria,"  "  The  Battle  of  the  Huns  " 
(Kaulbach's  painting),  works  of  a  patriotic  suggestion. 

The  programmes  of  Liszt's  symphonies  and  several  of  the 
symphonic  poems  are  given  by  Upton,  The  Standard  Symphonies. 
For  discussions  :  Famous  Composers  and  their  Works,  article  Liszt ; 
Weingartner,  The  Symphony  since  Beethoven ;  Saint-Saens,  Franz 
Liszt,  Century  Magazine,  February,  1893.  Of  special  interest  is 
Wagner's  article  on  Liszt's  symphonic  poems,  Prose  Works 
(Ellis),  vol.  iii. 

Still  aD other  group  of  works  consists  of  religious  com- 
positions for  chorus,  solos  and  orchestra,  including  ora- 


FRANZ  LISZT,  1811-1886 


281 


torios,  masses  and  psalms.  The  most  important  of  the 
church  works  are  the  mass  for  the  dedication  of  the 
cathedral  at  Gran,  and  the  "Hungarian  Coronation 
Mass."  Liszt  was  throughout  his  life  a  loyal  Catholic 
and  was  always  strongly  inclined  towards  religious  mys- 
ticism. This  disposition  unites  with  his  musical  roman- 
ticism and  love  of  tonal  splendor  to  give  his  masses 
certain  traits  peculiarly  their  own.  Some  of  his  most 
melodious  and  forcible  music  is  to  be  found  in  them. 

The  oratorio  "St.  Elizabeth"  is  a  setting  of  scenes  from 
the  legendary  life  of  Elizabeth  of  the  Wartburg.  It  is 
often  performed  and  is  considered  Liszt's  most  successful 
choral  work.  The  "  Christus "  does  not  represent  the 
personality  of  the  Saviour,  but  the  idea  embodied  in  his 
life  and  teaching.  The  work  is  divided  into  three  parts, 
comprising  the  Nativity,  Christ's  life  and  work  and  his 
Passion  and  Resurrection.  The  musical  style  and  arrange- 
ment are  altogether  novel,  including  a  capella  hymns,  de- 
clamatory passages  and  elaborate  choruses.  The  text  is 
taken  from  the  Scriptures  and  the  Catholic  liturgy. 

The  rank  of  Liszt  as  a  composer  cannot  be  considered 
settled;  opinions  greatly  differ,  and  the  controversy 
bids  fair  to  last  a  long  time  yet.  His  disciples  are  con- 
fident that  he  will  finally  be  reckoned  among  the  great- 
est of  composers.  Those  who  doubt  assert  that  Liszt 
was  deficient  in  melodic  invention,  that  his  power  of 
framing  and  expanding  an  idea  was  greatly  in  excess  of 
his  power  of  origination,  that  his  music  lacks  spontaneity, 
that  he  was  constantly  laboring  for  an  effect,  and  was 
fatally  possessed  by  his  musical  theories. 

Of  Liszt's  literary  writings  only  the  life  of  Chopin 


282    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 

has  been  translated  into  English.  His  book  on  the 
gypsies  and  their  music  in  Hungary,  his  essays  on  "  Der 
fliegende  Hollander,"  "  Tannhauser  "  and  "  Lohengrin  " 
(highly  important  in  calling  the  attention  of  the  world 
to  Wagner's  genius),  the  essays  on  Berlioz  and  Schumann, 
and  on  conducting,  the  letters  to  friends  during  his 
concert  tours,  are  extremely  interesting  as  criticism  and 
also  in  the  light  they  throw  on  the  high-minded  and 
generous  character  of  their  author.  The  over-exuberant 
literary  style,  so  frequent  in  Liszt's  writing,  is  attributed 
by  Glasenapp  {Life  of  Wagner)  to  the  officious  assist- 
ance of  the  Princess  Wittgenstein. 

As  orchestral  conductor  Liszt  was  one  of  the  leaders 
of  the  later  school.  The  conductor  of  the  present  day, 
unlike  the  old-school  time  beater,  applies  to  orches- 
tral performance  the  principles  that  hold  in  the  most 
advanced  interpretation  in  piano  or  violin  playing.  He 
follows  not  tradition  but  his  own  feeling,  he  offers  a 
thoroughly  individual  reading,  he  seeks  every  means  of 
expression  attainable  by  modifications  of  tempo,  refined 
phrasing  and  nuance  in  the  ensemble  and  the  individual 
parts.  He  beats  the  rhythm  rather  than  the  measure ; 
he  strives  to  attain  in  every  way  a  rendering  that  is 
characteristic  and  the  disclosure  of  new  beauties.  We 
now  have  the  virtuoso  conductor,  as  well  as  the  virtuoso 
pianist. 

The  principles  and  methods  of  the  higher  interpretation  in 
orchestral  playing  have  been  laid  down  by  Wagner  in  his  essay 
On  Conducting,  trans,  by  Dannreuther  and  also  by  Ellis  in  Wag- 
ner's Prose  Works.  An  excellent  historical  and  critical  essay  on 
conducting  and  conductors  has  been  written  by  Rupert  Hughes  in 
Famous  Composers  and  their  Works,  series  ii. 


XXXVI 


THE  OPERA  IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  TO 
ABOUT  1850.    I.  ITALIAN  OPERA 

The  clue  to  the  history  of  the  opera  since  its  beginning 
is  found  in  the  struggle  for  control  on  the  part  of  its  two 
essential  elements,  viz.  the  musical  and  the  dramatic. 
What  is  the  function  of  each  in  relation  to  the  other  ? 
Is  the  opera  in  theory  a  drama,  with  music  tributary  to 
poetry,  scene  and  action ;  or  does  it  exist  solely  for  mu- 
sical enjoyment,  the  dramatic  element  serviceable  merely 
for  giving  direction  to  the  music  ?  On  one  side  we  have 
the  conviction  commonly  held  by  philosophic  critics  and 
the  literary  class,  —  that  the  opera  is  properly  a  drama 
with  music,  that  its  justifying  value  lies  first  in  the  plot 
and  the  development  of  character  in  action,  the  music  a 
means  for  the  expression  of  character  and  intensifying 
the  dramatic  situation.  This  belief  implies  that  the 
form  and  style  of  the  music  should  be  controlled  by  the 
poetic  subject.  Reality,  truth,  genuineness  in  the  ex- 
pression of  human  feeling,  should  shape  and  control 
action,  scene  and  music  alike.  The  practical  tendency 
of  the  opera,  however,  has  usually  been  strongly  in  the 
opposite  direction,  and  dramatic  values  have  been  sacri- 
ficed to  musical  charm  and  virtuosity,  especially  in  stage 
singing.  It  is  notorious  that  the  opera  public  has,  as  a 
rule,  cared  little  for  dramatic  quality,  but  has  been  satis- 


28-4    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


fied  with  delectable  melody  and  brilliant  singing,  regard- 
less of  musical  appropriateness.  A  similar  shallowness 
of  judgment  has  been  shown  in  a  general  childlike 
delight  in  sensational  scenic  effect.  Composers  have 
been  complaisant  to  public  taste,  and  composers  and 
public  alike  have  been  subjugated  by  the  singers.  In 
the  great  majority  of  operas,  therefore,  the  plot  has  been 
weak  and  artificial,  the  characters  conventional,  action 
disregarded  for  the  sake  of  vocalism  and  stage  tableaux. 
The  history  of  the  opera,  until  a  recent  date  at  least,  has 
on  the  whole  been  such  as  to  bring  it  into  disrepute 
with  serious  minds.  As  a  consequence  of  these  tenden- 
cies, allied  with  public  fickleness,  the  opera  has  proved 
the  most  ephemeral  of  all  forms  of  art.  It  has  been 
held  as  simply  a  means  of  amusement,  not  a  means  of 
encouraging  reflection  or  stirring  deep  and  noble 
emotion. 

On  the  other  hand  there  have  always  been  composers, 
poets,  managers  and  critics  who  have  felt  that  it  is  not 
only  possible,  but  in  every  way  desirable,  that  strong 
and  worthy  subject  and  action  should  be  united  with 
powerful  and  truly  expressive  music  on  equal  terms, 
and  the  opera  take  its  place  beside  the  spoken  drama  in 
its  best  estate.  There  must  be  a  form  of  drama,  so  good 
in  itself  that  intelligent  people  will  respect  it,  which  at 
the  same  time  can  be  wedded  to  music  without  losing 
its  force.  And  there  must  be  a  kind  of  music,  beautiful 
and  impressive  in  itself,  which  is  well  adapted  to  the 
needs  of  dramatic  expression,  and  can  strengthen  poetry 
and  action  without  distracting  the  mind  from  them. 
Throughout  the  history  of  the  opera  this  conviction  has 


ITALIAN  OPERA  TO  1850 


285 


been  gaining  ground.  The  higher  view  of  dramatic 
claims  in  opera,  exemplified  consciously  or  uncon- 
sciously, with  more  or  less  of  inconsistency  and  com- 
promise, by  the  greatest  minds  among  opera  composers, 
has  at  last  prevailed  in  opera  production,  and  seems 
destined  to  conquer  the  public  judgment  also.  The  chief 
force  in  this  elevation  of  the  opera  and  the  establishment 
of  the  true  theory  concerning  it  is,  of  course,  the  works 
and  teachings  of  Wagner.  Yet  Wagner  is  only  the  frui- 
tion of  a  movement,  the  sign  of  the  triumph  of  an  idea 
which  had  been  held  by  many  reformers  before  his  time. 

The  most  serious  difficulty  in  the  way  of  the  re- 
formers of  the  opera  has  lain  in  the  composite  nature 
of  the  opera  as  a  form  of  art.  Poetry,  action,  scenery, 
vocal  music  and  instrumental  music  are  attacking  the 
listener's  attention  at  the  same  instant.  The  human 
powers  of  reception  are  limited ;  several  impressions 
may  be  received  at  the  same  time,  but  not  with  equal 
intensity.  The  most  vivid  and  immediate  impression  is 
doubtless  made  by  the  music  ;  the  complete  subordina- 
tion of  music  to  poetry  which  existed  in  the  Greek 
drama  is,  of  course,  out  of  the  question.  If  one  element 
must  be  partially  or  wholly  sacrificed,  must  it  not  be  the 
one  that  appeals  most  to  the  reflection  and  logical  judg- 
ment, viz.  text,  development  of  plot  and  delineation  of 
character  ?  The  only  solution  of  this  difficulty  is  found 
in  bringing  about  so  far  as  possible  a  unity  of  impression 
among  all  the  factors,  —  moulding  the  music  in  accord- 
ance with  the  dramatic  movement,  bringing  it  in  struc- 
ture and  style  into  the  greatest  possible  harmony  with 
sentiment  and  event. 


286    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


Here  then  is  the  student's  guide  in  the  maze  of  opera 
history  in  the  nineteenth  century,  —  the  shifting  for- 
tunes of  the  two  contending  principles  in  opera,  the 
struggle  to  unite  music  and  the  drama  to  the  higher 
glory  of  both.  That  such  unity  should  exist  and  that 
stage  music  finds  its  true  mission  in  dramatic  expression 
is  no  longer  called  in  question  by  the  leaders  in  creation 
and  criticism ;  the  controversy  that  still  goes  on,  and 
probably  will  go  on  forever,  is  over  the  means  by  which 
this  desired  end  can  best  be  attained. 

The  Italian  opera,  with  a  few  notable  exceptions,  has 
always  been  controlled  by  the  effort  to  give  pleasure  by 
means  of  abstract  melody  and  seductive  vocalism.  Its 
prevailing  characteristics  have  been  artificiality  and 
feebleness  of  plot,  comparative  neglect  of  the  orchestral 
part,  subordination  of  every  other  feature  to  tunefulness 
and  vocal  display.  The  Italian  bel  canto  has  been  the 
ruling  power.  The  Italian  operatic  revival  under  Ros- 
sini and  his  followers  was  based  on  practically  the  same 
principle  as  the  eighteenth-century  opera  seria.  Its 
extraordinary  success  for  a  time  was  due  to  the  luscious- 
ness  of  its  melody  and  the  cleverness  of  its  devices  to 
tickle  the  sensibilities  of  a  public  that  cared  only  for 
novelty  and  excitement.  The  decline  of  the  Rossini 
school  in  the  latter  part  of  the  century  was  due  to  the 
awakening  of  a  higher  demand  under  the  influence  of 
the  French  and  German  composers.  As  compared  with 
the  old  Italian  opera,  however,  the  school  of  Rossini  and 
his  followers  possessed  merits  which  must  be  recognized. 
An  advance  dramatically  and  musically  over  its  prede- 


ITALIAN  OPERA  TO  1850 


287 


cessor,  it  was  at  the  same  time  a  reactionary  obstacle  to 
the  progress  of  still  higher  ideals  emanating  from  Ger- 
man and  French  sources. 

The  Italian  grand  opera  of  the  eighteenth  century 
had  faded  to  an  extent  that  seemed  to  forebode  extinc- 
tion in  the  hands  of  such  men  as  Paisiello,  Pae'r  and 
Zingarelli.  It  suddenly  burst  forth  with  new  splendor 
under  Rossini,  swept  public  taste  along  with  it,  and 
the  Italian  bel  canto  once  more  gave  the  law  to  the  lyric 
stage.  Gioachino  Rossini  (1792-1868),  born  in  Pesaro, 
Italy,  gained  a  European  fame  with  "Tancredi"  (1813). 
Italy,  Austria,  Germany  and  Paris  became  successively 
the  scenes  of  his  conquests.  Operas  ran  from  his  pen 
in  an  incessant  stream.  About  forty,  including  farces, 
were  produced  between  1810  and  1829.  The  most  im- 
portant are  "II  Barbiere  di  Siviglia,"  "La  Cenerentola," 
"  La  Gazza  Laura,"  "  Guillaume  Tell,"  "  LTtaliana  in 
Algeri,"  "Mose  in  Egitto,"  "  Otello,"  "  Semiramide," 
"Le  Siege  de  Corinthe "  and  "Tancredi."  Only  "II 
Barbiere  di  Siviglia  "  and  "  Guillaume  Tell  "  still  keep 
the  stage.  No  other  composer  of  recent  times  ever  had 
so  instant  and  complete  a  success.  His  triumph  was 
the  triumph  of  the  Italian  aria  in  its  most  seductive 
form.  Considerations  of  dramatic  truth,  interest  of  sub- 
ject and  character,  appropriateness  of  music  to  text  and 
situation  were  often  lost  sight  of.  Rossini  had  the  spirit 
of  a  showman,  not  of  a  teacher  or  reformer.  His  aim 
was  immediate  success  before  an  unreflecting  public,  and 
he  cared  little  for  the  lasting  value  of  the  means  employed. 
For  about  twenty  years  he  was  entertainer-in-chief  for 


288    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 

all  Western  Europe.  He  came  at  a  time  when  the  aver- 
age musical  taste  was  at  a  low  ebb  in  all  countries ;  he 
took  the  taste  for  what  is  showy  and  superficial  as  he 
found  it,  and  exploited  it  with  consummate  skill. 

It  is,  however,  unjust  to  Rossini  to  hold  him  respon- 
sible for  the  shallowness  of  musical  culture  and  the 
neglect  of  the  great  masters.  His  influence  was  not 
altogether  corrupting;  in  some  respects  and  in  many 
quarters  it  was  salutary.  That  he  poured  new  life  into 
the  stagnant  veins  of  the  Italian  opera  is  undeniable. 
He  introduced  a  higher  grade  of  melody  and  a  nobler 
style  of  singing.  He  curbed  the  ancient  license  of  the 
singers  to  alter  the  notes  and  improvise  nourishes  and 
cadenzas  at  will.  His  arias  are  profusely  adorned,  often 
to  the  complete  destruction  of  dramatic  expression,  but 
these  passages  Rossini  wrote  himself  and  insisted  that 
the  singers  follow  the  notes  as  he  gave  them.  He  re- 
stored the  bass  voice  to  its  rights  in  grand  opera  and, 
best  of  all,  brought  to  an  end  the  disgraceful  reign  of 
the  artificial  male  soprano.  He  varied  the  unbroken 
succession  of  arias  and  recitatives  of  the  old  opera 
seria  with  concerted  pieces  and  finales.  He  broke  the 
monotony  of  the  old  secco  recitative  and  made  use  of 
the  strings,  sometimes  the  wind  also,  in  its  accompani- 
ment. He  vastly  enlarged  the  importance  of  the  orches- 
tra as  compared  with  his  Italian  forerunners,  and 
showed  decided  skill  and  taste  in  orchestration.  His 
subjects  took  a  wider  range  and  his  plots  and  person- 
ages were  endowed  with  greater  human  interest.  His 
weakness  lay  in  tricks  and  mannerisms,  and  in  his  will- 
ingness to  sacrifice  dramatic  propriety  to  melodious 


ITALIAN  OPERA  TO  1850 


289 


fascination  and  vocal  fireworks.  His  melody,  at  times 
voluptuous,  often  brilliant  beyond  all  precedent,  is  that 
of  a  genius  in  melodic  invention,  and  of  one  who  per- 
fectly understood  the  capacities  of  the  human  voice. 

His  strongest  qualities  lay  in  opera  buffa.  Hardly 
less  noted  as  a  wit  and  bon  vivant  than  as  a  musician,  he 
has  given  in  "  II  Barbiere  di  Siviglia "  a  real  master- 
piece of  its  class.  It  still  remains  unsurpassed;  its 
popularity  has  hardly  abated ;  its  spontaneity,  liveliness 
and  vigor  of  characterization  are  genuine  and  as  much 
enjoyed  in  one  epoch  as  another. 

"  Guillaume  Tell,"  Rossini's  masterpiece  in  the  serious 
vein,  belongs  to  the  French  school  of  grand  opera  (see 
chap,  xxxvii). 

After  Rossini's  unaccountable  abandonment  of  the 
theatre  in  1829,  he  wrote  his  "Stabat  Mater"  and 
"  Messe  Solennelle."  In  brilliancy  and  variety  of  melody 
these  works  are  no  whit  inferior  to  his  operas ;  as  church 
works  the  purified  taste  of  the  present  day  condemns 
them.  They  are  a  strange  mixture  of  sincerity  and 
clap-trap.  The  inappropriateness  to  the  text  of  the 
famous  "  Cujus  animam  "  and  "  Inflammatus "  of  the 
"  Stabat  Mater  "  might  almost  be  called  sacrilege. 

The  true  balance  of  Rossini's  faults  and  merits  is  still  disputed, 
although  the  controversy  has  now  lost  most  of  its  interest.  The 
best  that  can  be  said  for  him  is  found  in  Chouquet's  article  in 
Grove's  Dictionary.  Other  valuable  criticisms  by  Apthorp,  The 
Opera,  Past  and  Present;  Famous  Composers  and  their  Works, 
series  i,  article  Rossini. 

A  brilliant  group  of  composers  gathered  around  Ros- 
sini, continuing  his  methods  and  principles,  contributing 

19 


290    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


nothing  essentially  new.  The  most  accomplished  were 
Gaetano  Donizetti  (1798-1848)  and  Vincenzo  Bellini 
(1802-1835).  They  were  almost  as  gifted  as  their 
master  in  the  invention  of  melody  of  the  bewitching, 
often  cloying  Italian  type,  and  although  their  immense 
popularity  has  declined  and  the  taste  disciplined  by 
nobler  models  now  slights  them,  they  still  have  a  loyal 
body  of  adherents.  Donizetti  is  at  his  best  in  comic 
opera.  The  most  important  among  his  more  than 
sixty-five  operas  are  "  Anna  Bolena,"  "  L'Elisir 
d'Amore,"  "Lucrezia  Borgia,"  u  Lucia  di  Lammer- 
moor,"  "La  Fille  du  Regiment"  (opera-comique),  "La 
Favorita,"  "  Linda  di  Chamouni  "  and  "  Don  Pasquale  " 
(opera  buffa). 

The  chief  works  of  Bellini  are  "La  Somnambula," 
"  Norma  "  and  "  I  Puritani."  In  Bellini,  the  Sicilian,  a 
soft,  effeminate,  sentimental  and  luxurious  tone  prevails. 
In  "  Norma,"  however,  there  is  real  dramatic  passion, 
which  seems  to  show  that  with  longer  life  Bellini  would 
have  risen  above  the  debilitating  influences  of  his  school. 
We  must  not  deny  genuine  emotion  to  Donizetti  and 
Bellini,  as  well  as  some  high  gifts.  That  they  are  still 
admired  by  so  many  art  patrons  shows  that  there  is  sub- 
stance in  their  works.  Their  faults  are  those  of  their 
genre  and  their  education;  their  merits,  although  of  a 
light  and  volatile  order,  may  still  be  tolerated  when  they 
give  opportunity  for  the  display  of  the  exquisite  art  of 
a  Marcella  Sembrich  and  an  Enrico  Caruso.  Verdi, 
although  having  many  traits  in  common  with  those  of 
the  Rossini  school,  at  least  in  his  earlier  operas,  must 
not  be  classed  with  it  (see  chap.  xli). 


ITALIAN  OPERA  TO  1850 


291 


In  accounting  for  the  success  of  the  works  of  Rossini, 
Bellini  and  Donizetti,  large  account  must  be  taken  of 
the  extraordinary  group  of  singers  identified  with  them. 
The  nineteenth  century,  especially  the  first  half,  saw 
vocalism  raised  to  a  height  of  splendor  never  before 
equalled,  unless  in  some  particulars  by  a  few  of  the 
notabilities  of  the  eighteenth  century.  They  were  the 
adored  of  all  Europe ;  their  wonderful  voices  and  fault- 
less execution  are  among  the  bright  traditions  of  music 
history.  In  purity,  power,  finish  and  flexibility  these 
singers  stand  as  models  for  all  time.  Their  names, 
many  of  which  are  almost  household  words,  include 
Jenny  Lind,  Grisi,  Malibran,  Sontag,  Patti,  Sembrich, 
sopranos;  Alboni  and  Scalchi,  contraltos;  Rubini,  Tam- 
berlik,  Mario,  Tamagno,  Campanini  and  Caruso,  tenors ; 
Lablache,  bass.  Many  of  these  singers  and  others  not 
inferior  shone  also  in  the  French  opera.  The  interest 
in  the  study  of  the  history  of  the  art  of  song  in  the 
nineteenth  century  now  chiefly  centres  in  the  change  of 
ideal  in  opera  singing,  the  comparison  between  the 
Italian  bel  canto  and  the  style  demanded  in  the  German 
and  French  opera,  and  created  by  the  lyric  dramas  of 
Wagner.  On  the  one  hand  vocalism  for  the  sheer, 
sensuous  pleasure  of  the  ear,  —  abstract  vocalism  for  its 
own  sake ;  on  the  other,  vocalism  shorn  of  redundancies 
and  ornaments,  existing  solely  or  chiefly  for  interpreta- 
tion of  every  shade  of  emotion  as  dictated  by  the  text 
and  situation. 

Add  to  the  standard  writings  on  the  opera  as  already  given  : 
Grove's  Dictionary,  articles  Opera,  Schools  and  especially  Singing. 
But  little  time  need  be  spent  over  the  numerous  gossipy  annals 


292    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


and  reminiscences  in  which  opera  heroes  flourish,  such  as  Ferris, 
Great  Singers ;  Edwards,  The  Prima  Donna;  Hogarth,  Memoirs  of 
the  Musical  Drama ;  Mapleson,  Memoirs,  etc.  Mr.  Apthorp  is  right 
in  saying  that  this  opera  "became  the  theme  of  probably  the  worst 
musical  literature  (written  by  amateurs)  the  world  has  ever  had  to 
blush  for." 

An  admirable  comparison  between  the  ideals  of  the  old  operatic 
school  of  singing  and  the  new  may  be  found  in  the  chapter,  Italian 
and  German  V^cal  Styles,  in  Finck's  Chopin  and  other  Musical 
Essays.  Mr.  Apthorp,  treating  a  similar  subject  in  the  chapter, 
The  Art  of  the  Opera  Singer,  in  The  Opera,  Past  and  Present,  calls 
attention  to  technical  defects  in  the  new  style. 

The  development  of  the  libretto  is  a  subject  to  be  considered 
in  opera  history.  Note  in  the  operas  of  Donizetti  and  Bellini  the 
adoption  of  romantic  subjects,  with  an  attempt  at  portrayal  of 
reality  and  true  passion,  in  place  of  the  inane  "  gods  and  heroes  " 
of  the  old  opera  seria.  There  is  an  interesting  essay  on  the  opera 
libretto  in  Studies  in  Music,  ed.  by  Gray.  Plots  may  be  found  in 
Upton,  The  Standard  Operas,  and  Annesley,  The  Standard  Opera 
Glass. 

Piano  and  vocal  scores  of  the  chief  operas  of  Rossini,  Donizetti 
and  Bellini  are  published  by  Novello,  Boosey  and  others. 


XXXVII 

THE  OPERA  IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  TO 
ABOUT  1850.    H.    FRENCH  OPERA 

With  the  triumphant  close  of  the  campaign  of  Gluck, 
Paris  became  the  head  centre  of  European  opera,  and 
remained  so  throughout  the  greater  part  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  No  reputation  could  be  considered  satisfac- 
torily established  until  Paris  had  affixed  the  seal  of  its 
approval.  Notwithstanding  what  we  now  see  to  be  the 
world-wide  significance  of  Mozart's  "  Figaro  "  and  "  Don 
Giovanni,"  Beethoven's  "  Fidelio  "  and  Weber's  "  Der 
Freischutz  "  and  "Euryanthe,"  their  success  was  at  first 
local  and  temporary.  The  opera  must  pass  through 
several  important  stages  before  the  lyric  drama  of 
Wagner  could  effect  its  conquest,  and  the  history  of 
the  opera  in  Paris  may  be  considered  as  an  inevitable 
preliminary  so  far  at  least  as  the  education  of  public 
appreciation  is  concerned.  The  old  Italian  "god  and 
hero  "  opera  and  the  French  grand  opera  of  Lully  had 
been  drained  by  Gluck  of  whatever  vitality  they  pos- 
sessed ;  the  old  forms  were  but  shells  and  could  be 
discarded,  and  styles  more  suited  to  the  needs  of  the 
new  age  appeared  in  their  stead.  It  is  somewhat  diffi- 
cult to  classify  the  numerous  French  operas  of  the 
nineteenth  century  among  the  several  genres.  Theoreti- 
cally there  are  two  categories,  —  the  grand  opera  or 


29-4    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


trage'die-lyrique,  performed  at  the  Acade'mie  de  Musique, 
and  the  opdra-comique,  performed  at  the  theatre  of  that 
name.  The  confusion  lies  in  the  second  class,  for  the 
ope>a-comique,  originating  in  the  eighteenth  century  in 
the  vaudeville,  gradually  expanded  and  elevated  its 
music  and  its  subjects,  and  reduced  the  space  given 
to  the  spoken  dialogue,  until  in  certain  later  works 
pathetic  and  cheerful  scenes  are  mingled  as  in  the  higher 
grade  of  spoken  comedy,  and  in  some  instances  the 
subject  is  even  tragic  and  the  dialogue  given  in  recitative. 
In  such  cases  there  is  no  apparent  distinction  between 
the  grand  opera  and  the  op^ra-comique,  and  their  desig- 
nation depends  merely  upon  the  theatre  —  Academie  de 
Musique  or  Opera-comique — in  which  they  are  per- 
formed. This  breaking  down  of  the  hard  and  fast  dis- 
tinction between  the  serious  and  the  comic  orders 
resulted  in  that  form  of  opera  of  "  middle  character " 
which  has  been  one  of  the  most  important  art  contribu- 
tions of  the  nineteenth  century. 

Another  striking  fact  in  the  history  of  the  French 
opera  of  the  nineteenth  century  is  the  great  share  given 
to  its  development  by  foreign  musicians.  Among  the 
most  distinguished  writers  of  French  opera  beginning 
with  Gluck,  a  German,  are  Cherubini,  Spontini  and  Ros- 
sini, Italians,  and  Meyerbeer  and  Offenbach,  Germans. 
An  opera  always  takes  the  national  name  of  the  language 
in  which  it  is  written ;  there  are  national  types  of  melody, 
because  vocal  melody  is  born  of  speech ;  moreover,  the 
works  of  these  men  are  based  on  French  forms  and  their 
style  is  colored  in  accordance  with  the  requirements  of 
the  French  spirit  and  French  taste.    Nevertheless,  the 


FRENCH  OPERA  TO  1850 


295 


early  education  and  the  native  habit  of  these  Italian  and 
German  composers  could  not  be  outgrown,  and  the  re- 
sult of  all  the  influences  involved  has  been  a  form  of 
music  which,  if  not  cosmopolitan,  is  eclectic  rather  than 
strictly  French.  Even  in  the  most  original  composers 
of  French  birth,  such  as  Boieldieu,  Auber  and,  later, 
Gounod  and  Bizet,  the  form  and  tone  of  their  works 
have  been  to  a  large  extent  guided  by  the  ideas  of  Gluck, 
Mozart,  Meyerbeer  and,  in  recent  times,  of  Wagner.  On 
the  other  hand  the  reconstituted  French  opera  has  re- 
acted upon  Italy  and  Germany,  its  influence  being 
unmistakable  in  the  later  works  of  Verdi  and  even  in 
the  dramas  of  Wagner. 

The  rapid  development  of  German  instrumental  music, 
and  the  powers  of  dramatic  expression  revealed  in  the 
orchestra  of  Mozart,  Beethoven  and  Weber,  must  be 
recognized  as  one  of  the  chief  vitalizing  forces  in  the 
creation  of  the  new  French  opera. 

Add  to  these  influences  the  strongly  developed  dra- 
matic sense  of  the  French  people  which,  from  the  days 
of  Lully,  separated  the  whole  conception  and  treatment 
of  the  French  opera  from  the  Italian. 

The  first  of  the  naturalized  Italians  to  contribute  im- 
portant works  to  the  modern  French  school  was  Luigi 
Cherubixi  (1760-1842).  He  was  born  in  Florence, 
enjoyed  a  strict  training  in  the  counterpoint  of  the 
Palestrina  school,  went  to  Paris  in  1788  and  became 
conspicuous  as  a  writer  of  serious  operas.  He  was 
successful  with  the  public  and  was  recognized  as  the 
most  learned  musician  in  France.  His  stern,  uncom- 
promising, patrician  character  aroused  the  dislike  of  the 


296    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


emperor  Napoleon,  who  appreciated  only  the  shallowest 
of  Italian  operas,  his  advancement  was  thereby  hin- 
dered and  he  twice  withdrew  from  the  Paris  stage 
The  latter  part  of  his  career  is  distinguished  by  his 
masses  and  other  religious  works,  which  have  gained 
him  a  place  in  the  front  rank  of  composers  for  the  Cath- 
olic church.  His  sound  early  training  in  the  severe 
ecclesiastical  style,  his  experience  in  stage  vocal  music 
and  his  mastery  of  orchestral  writing  derived  from  his 
study  of  his  favorite  German  models,  Haydn  and 
Mozart,  are  all  apparent  in  these  massive  and  brilliant 
compositions.  The  chief  of  these  are  the  requiems  in  C 
minor  and  D  (the  latter  for  men's  voices),  the  masses  in 
D  minor,  A  and  C  and  the  a  capella  Credo  for  eight 
voices.  His  most  famous  dramatic  works  are  :  "  Demo- 
phon"  (1788),  "Lodoiska"  (1791),  "  Medde  "  (1797), 
44  Les  deux  Journees  "  (known  in  English  as  "  The  Water 
Carrier,"  1800),  44  Anacreon"  (1803)  and  <4Faniska" 
(1806).  In  1822  he  became  director  of  the  Paris  Con- 
servatoire, and  in  this  post  showed  great  ability  as 
teacher  and  administrator.  In  his  later  years  he  wrote 
symphonies,  quartets  and  other  instrumental  works 
which  have  not  added  to  his  fame. 

44  Les  deux  Journe'es  "  is  still  rarely  performed  ;  Cheru- 
bim's other  operas  have  been  abandoned.  His  works 
display  his  accomplished  musicianship ;  they  are  wrought 
with  earnestness  ;  the  chief  stress  is  laid  upon  the  con- 
certed scenes  and  the  choruses.  He  is  a  disciple  of 
Gluck  and  the  Germans ;  not  deficient  in  melody,  yet  he 
relied  not  upon  the  arts  of  the  singer  but  upon  character- 
ization.   His  works  only  lack  that  spark  of  genius  which 


FRENCH  OPERA  TO  1850 


297 


alone  is  preservative.  His  importance  is  mainly  historic 
as  one  of  the  founders  of  that  higher  form  of  French 
opera,  technically  classed  as  ope'ra-comique,  in  which 
serious  subjects  are  treated  in  a  manner  similar  to  that 
employed  in  the  grand  opera,  preserving  only  the  spoken 
dialogue.  Cherubini  is  best  known  to  the  general  musi- 
cal public  by  certain  of  his  very  effective  opera  overtures, 
which  are  often  given  on  the  concert  platform  in  Ger- 
many and  France. 

The  spirit  of  Gluck  survived  also  in  his  disciple, 
Etienke-Henri  M^hul  (1763-1817),  who  shares 
with  Cherubini  the  honor  of  leading  the  opera-comique 
into  that  path  of  dramatic  earnestness  and  musical 
breadth  in  which  it  has  won  such  distinction.  Aban- 
doning the  mythological  machinery  which  had  long  ago 
lost  all  interest,  and  rising  above  the  levity  and  superfici- 
ality of  the  comic  opera,  this  new  order  chose  themes 
lying  nearer  to  contemporary  concerns,  mingling  the 
serious  and  playful,  aiming  at  a  truthful  characterization 
of  ideas  and  feelings  that  act  in  the  general  life  of 
humanity.  M£hul  had  less  learning  than  Cherubini, 
but  more  grace  and  spontaneity.  He  excelled  in  charac- 
ter drawing;  with  moderate  means  he  attained  dignity 
and  penetration  in  the  expression  of  genuine  feeling. 
His  fame  rests  chiefly  upon  his  "  Joseph,"  in  which, 
although  lacking  a  leading  female  role,  the  impression  of 
patriarchal  life  is  imparted  with  great  skill  and  charm. 

A  remarkable  career  was  that  of  Gasparo  Spon- 
tini  (1774-1851),  an  Italian  who  came  to  Paris  in 
1803,  threw  himself  into  the  current  of  opera  set  in 
motion  by  Gluck,  and  opened  still  another  vein  by  seiz- 


298    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


ing  subjects  of  an  heroic,  martial  nature,  and  setting  them 
forth  with  an  unprecedented  pomp  of  scenic  parade  and 
orchestral  splendor.  Such  themes  also  hit  a  ruling  taste 
during  the  Napoleonic  regime,  and  Spontini  has  been  gen- 
erally described  as  the  dramatic  interpreter  of  the  spirit  of 
French  imperialism.  He  enjoyed  a  complete  triumph  in 
"  La  Vestale,"  a  romantic  Roman  subject,  in  1807.  "  Fer- 
nand  Cortez,"  a  Spanish  and  Mexican  subject,  followed 
in  1809,  and  "  Olympie,"  a  Greek  subject,  in  1819.  Ap- 
pointed director  of  the  royal  opera  in  Berlin  in  1820,  he 
produced  several  operas,  the  chief  of  which  is  "  Agnes 
von  Hohenstaufen,"  a  subject  taken  from  mediaeval 
German  life.  Spontini's  example  in  choosing  heroic 
themes,  based  more  or  less  on  historic  fact,  and  em- 
bellishing them  with  every  means  of  scenic  and  orches- 
tral display,  was  followed  by  Rossini  in  "  Guillaume 
Tell,"  Auber  in  "  La  Muette  de  Portici,"  Meyerbeer  in 
"  Les  Huguenots  "  and  "  Le  Prophete  "  and  Wagner  in 
"Rienzi."  Spontini's  purposes  were  always  noble  and 
he  strove  consciously  to  elevate  the  opera  dramatically 
and  musically;  but  in  spite  of  some  great  gifts,  his 
pathos  is  strained,  his  martial  parade  rings  hollow.  His 
operas  have  not  depth  and  reality  enough  to  maintain 
them  in  view  of  the  elaborate  equipment  necessary  to 
perform  them.  Their  popularity  never  recovered  from 
the  heavy  blow  dealt  by  Weber's  "  Der  Freischiitz  "  at 
its  first  performance  at  Berlin  in  1821. 

The  original  conception  of  the  ope*ra-comique  as  a 
portrayal  of  the  humorous  side  of  life  was  maintained 
by  a  brilliant  company  of  writers,  the  most  racy  of 
whom  before  Auber  was  Francois- Admen  Boieldietj 


FRENCH  OPERA  TO  1850 


299 


(1775-1834).  Beginning  with  light  operas  in  which  a 
large  amount  of  spoken  dialogue  was  interspersed  with 
song-like  numbers,  Boieldieu  developed  a  style  in  which 
an  earnest  tone  is  often  employed,  and  a  music  more 
continuous  and  developed  with  a  view  to  the  expression 
of  a  considerable  range  of  sentiment.  Boieldieu  has 
abundant  wit  and  sparkle,  a  characteristically  French 
lightness  of  touch,  and  a  gift  of  very  delightful  melody. 
His  most  successful  operas  are  "  Le  Calif e  de  Bagdad," 
"Jean  de  Paris"  and  "  La  Dame  blanche."  The  latter 
is  a  classic  of  the  opera-comique,  thoroughly  French  in 
spite  of  its  Scotch  subject,  an  admirable  specimen  of 
refined  musical  comed}T. 

The  king  of  opera-comique  in  the  generation  follow- 
ing Boieldieu  was  Daniel-Fran^ois-Esprit  Auber 
(1782-1871).  In  habit  and  temperament  Auber  was  a 
genuine  Parisian,  and  the  pleasure-loving  public  of  the 
gay  city  never  possessed  an  entertainer  more  to  their 
heart.  His  works  combine  in  a  representative  degree 
those  qualities  of  wit,  grace  and  vivacity  that  especially 
characterize  the  lighter  French  drama.  He  was  slow  in 
"  finding  himself,"  and  his  first  decided  success  was  won 
only  at  the  age  of  thirty-eight.  From  that  time  he  rode 
on  the  top  wave  of  popularity.  His  most  important 
operas-comiques  are  "Le  Macon,"  "La  Fiance'e,"  "  Fra 
Diavolo,"  "  Le  Cheval  de  bronze,"  "  Le  Domino  noir  " 
and  "  Les  Diamants  de  la  Couronne."  The  latter  work 
approaches  near  to  grand  opera  in  largeness  of  scale  and 
dramatic  and  orchestral  force.  Through  Auber's  talent 
for  characterization  he  succeeded  in  giving  an  air  of  reality 
to  his  stage  personages,  among  whom  we  find  many 


300    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


Parisian  types.  He  was  very  successful  in  seeking  local 
color.  He  has  an  inexhaustible  fund  of  piquant  melody, 
while  his  cleverness  in  orchestration  gives  a  raciness  to 
his  scores  that  has  never  lost  its  savor. 

Among  other  writers  of  ope*ra-comique  the  most 
successful  in  this  period  were  Louis-Joseph-Ferdinand 
Harold  (1791-1833)  and  Adolphe-Charles  Adam  (1803- 
1856).  Herold's  best-known  works  are  "Zampa"  and 
"  Le  Pre*  aux  Clercs."  The  latter,  which  tends  toward 
the  grand  opera  style,  is  preferred  in  France.  Herold  is 
especially  rich  in  orchestration.  Adam,  who  is  remem- 
bered chiefly  for  a  few  brilliant  tenor  songs  in  "  Le  Pos- 
tilion de  Longjumeau,"  rarely  rose  above  triviality. 

The  French  grand  opera  entered  upon  a  new  career  of 
glory  under  the  guidance  of  Rossini,  Auber  and  Meyer- 
beer. Rossini  made  his  permanent  residence  in  Paris  in 
1824,  revived  some  of  his  earlier  works  and  modified  them 
out  of  deference  to  French  taste  by  pruning  away  some 
of  their  vocal  redundancies,  broadening  the  recitative  and 
giving  more  space  to  concerted  scenes  and  choruses.  The 
climax  of  his  effort  to  naturalize  himself  as  a  French 
composer  was  in  his  "  Guillaume  Tell,"  produced  in  the 
Acade'mie  in  1829.  This  work  is  still  considered  Rossini's 
masterpiece,  one  in  which  his  wonderful  melodic  gifts  are 
held  to  the  service  of  dramatic  expression  so  far  as  such 
an  achievement  was  in  Rossini's  nature.  The  way  in 
which  "  Tell "  appealed  to  the  French  musical  judgment  of 
the  time  and  since  is  expressed  by  Chouquet,  who  calls 
attention  to  the  freshness  and  grace  with  which  Rossini 
has  depicted  the  Alps  and  their  pastoral  inhabitants ;  "  the 


FRENCH  OPERA  TO  1850 


301 


notes  which  convey  the  distress  of  the  agonized  father ; 
the  enthusiastic  expression  of  the  heroes  of  Switzerland ; 
the  harrowing  phrases  which  convey  the  anguish  of  a  son 
renouncing  all  that  he  holds  most  dear ;  the  astonishing 
variety  of  the  colors  in  which  the  conspiracy  is  painted ; 
the  grandeur  of  the  outlines ;  the  severity  of  the  style ; 
the  co-existence  of  so  much  variety  with  such  admirable 
unity  ;  the  truly  Olympian  dignity  which  reigns  through- 
out "  (Grove's  Dictionary,  article  Rossini).  Later  events 
have  served  to  dim  the  colors  of  this  much-lauded  work 
and  a  good  deal  of  the  substratum  is  found  to  be  unstable  ; 
but  there  is  much  in  it  that  is  strong  and  sincere,  with 
melody  that  appeals  to  a  lasting  taste.  The  rather  over- 
rated overture  is  still  popular.  The  complete  abandon- 
ment of  the  stage  by  Rossini  after  the  production  of  this 
opera,  at  the  age  of  thirty-seven,  has  never  been  satisfac- 
torily explained. 

In  the  development  of  the  French  heroic  opera,  on  the 
way  to  its  culmination  in  the  hands  of  Meyerbeer,  "  Tell " 
is  a  transition  work.  So  also  was  its  famous  rival  of 
1828,  Auber's  "  La  Muette  de  Portici,"  known  in  Eng- 
land and  America  as  u  Masaniello."  This  opera  is  based 
upon  a  revolt  of  the  populace  of  the  kingdom  of  Naples 
against  the  oppression  of  a  tyrannical  viceroy  in  1647. 
Auber  and  his  librettist,  Scribe,  made  several  departures 
from  historic  verity,  particularly  in  the  introduction  of 
Fenella,  the  chief  female  character,  who  is  dumb.  The 
difficulty  of  finding  at  that  time  a  soprano  qualified  for  a 
leading  role  in  the  opera  was  thus  cleverly  surmounted. 
Auber's  genius  for  piquant  melody  and  orchestral  color- 
ation, elsewhere  so  effectively  displayed  in  opera-comique, 


302    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


is  used  here  for  dignified  ends  and  with  brilliant  success. 
He  does  not  yield  to  the  temptation  to  throw  his  weight 
upon  theatrical  pomp  and  show,  but  strives  to  individ- 
ualize his  characters  and  to  give  the  work  local  color. 
The  latter  purpose  he  effects  by  a  liberal  use  of  imitations 
of  Italian  folk  songs  and  dances,  such  as  the  tarantella 
and  barcarolle.  This  opera  has  a  place  in  political  history, 
for  the  revolution  by  which  Belgium  gained  independence 
of  Holland  in  1830,  although  long  preparing,  came  to  an 
outbreak  in  Brussels  under  the  excitement  produced  by 
a  performance  of  "  La  Muette."  This  opera  still  holds 
its  popularity. 

The  history  of  the  French  grand  opera  culminates 
in  Giacomo  Meyerbeer  (1791-1864).  He  was  a 
German  Jew,  born  in  Berlin;  was  a  fellow  pupil  of 
Weber  at  Munich  for  a  time  and  wrote  one  or  two 
German  operas;  then  went  to  Italy  and  adopted  the 
Rossini  manner;  went  to  Paris  in  1826,  changed  his 
direction  a  second  time  and  built  up  the  style  by  which 
he  is  now  known.  His  chief  works  are  "Robert  le 
Diable  "  (1831),  "  Les  Huguenots  "  (1836),  "  Le  Pro- 
phete"  (1849),  "L'Etoile  du  Nord"  (1854),  "  Le  Par- 
don de  Ploermel "  (1859),  known  also  as  "  Dinorah,"  and 
"L'Africaine"  (1864).  The  first  three  in  this  list  are 
those  which  have  given  him  his  fame. 

Few  composers  have  been  so  much  eulogized  and  so 
much  reviled  as  Meyerbeer.  The  opinion  of  Wagner 
and  Schumann,  who  denounced  him  as  an  unmitigated 
charlatan  and  trickster,  may  be  set  off  against  the  view 
of  his  French  admirers,  many  of  them  able  critics,  who 
pronounce  him  one  of  the  greatest  of  musico-dramatic 


FRENCH  OPERA  TO  1850 


303 


geniuses.  The  truth  doubtless  lies  between  these  two 
estimates.  While  in  sheer  musical  imagination  and 
science  he  cannot  be  called  one  of  the  greatest  of  musi- 
cians, yet  he  was  not  lacking  in  ideas,  and  was  deficient 
in  sustained  development  rather  than  in  thematic  inven- 
tion. His  ingenuity  and  command  in  the  matter  of 
orchestral  combination  for  dramatic  purposes  is  unques- 
tioned. He  had  many  great  inspirations,  and  there  are 
pages  in  his  works  that  will  always  rank  among  the  most 
powerful  in  opera  history. 

Meyerbeer  is  usually  spoken  of  as  an  eclectic.  In 
music,  as  in  literature  and  painting,  there  was  at  this 
time  in  France  a  chaos  of  opinion  and  a  ferment  in  pro- 
duction, subjects  and  styles,  the  most  incongruous 
jostling  each  other  and  contending  for  supremacy.  The 
most  sensational  as  well  as  the  most  normal  features 
that  had  been  developed  in  the  French,  Italian  and  Ger- 
man schools  were  seized  by  Meyerbeer  and  flung  together, 
without  regard  to  any  lack  of  consistency  that  might 
result.  The  product,  however,  was  something  that  had 
in  an  indescribable  way  the  stamp  of  Meyerbeer's  own 
personality.  No  operatic  composer  was  ever  more  un- 
even, and  this  is  due  not  only  to  a  lack  of  spontaneity  in 
creation,  but  still  more  to  his  intense  desire  to  make 
"  effect "  at  every  point,  no  matter  at  what  loss  of  musi- 
cal unity.  A  work  of  his  is,  therefore,  as  Mrs.  Julian 
Marshall  says  (Grove's  Dictionary,  article  Meyerbeer),  a 
consummate  piece  of  mosaic  rather  than  an  organic  struc- 
ture. Yet  this  mosaic  is  undeniably  brilliant,  often  keen 
and  convincing  in  characterization,  often  shallow  and 
pretentious.    The  accusation  seems  well  grounded  that 


304     THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


Meyerbeer's  one  overweening  desire  was  to  gratify  the 
taste  of  his  audience,  and  that,  not  the  most  intelligent 
and  reflective  portion,  but  the  mob  of  theatre-goers  who 
crave  novelty  and  sensation  at  all  cost.  To  gain  this 
end  he  did  not  spare  himself  the  most  exhausting  labors. 
The  apparent  slowness  of  his  composition  is  chiefly  due 
to  the  endless  revision  to  which  he  subjected  his  work,  — 
not  to  make  it  more  true  and  more  worthy  of  the  high- 
est dramatic  demands,  but  more  fetching  at  the  first 
hearing.  He  often  disfigured  his  arias  by  excessive 
colorature,  catering  thus  to  the  vanity  of  singers  and  the 
love  of  portions  of  his  audiences  for  Italian  frippery. 
He  is,  of  course,  not  to  be  held  responsible  for  the  public 
passion  for  gaudy  and  blatant  scenic  and  musical  effects, 
but  instead  of  striving  to  bring  theatrical  pageantry 
under  the  control  of  a  lofty  poetic  aim,  he  was  careful 
to  choose  subjects  and  arrange  scenes  that  would  lend 
themselves  most  readily  to  fantastic  and  overloaded 
spectacle.  Yet  Meyerbeer  was  certainly  an  innovator  in 
legitimate  ways,  his  scores  contain  many  beauties,  he 
often  shows  an  extraordinary  dramatic  imaginative 
power,  his  range  of  expression  was  very  wide,  he  en- 
larged the  scope  of  dramatic  portrayal  and  in  many  ways 
influenced  French  opera,  and  German  and  Italian  opera 
also,  for  good.  At  his  best  he  is  a  melodist  and  harmo- 
nist of  a  high  order,  and  in  the  use  of  the  orchestra  for 
dramatic  characterization  he  showed  an  originality  and 
versatility  that  have  rarely  been  equalled.  If  his  operas 
eventually  disappear  from  the  stage  it  will,  perhaps,  be 
not  on  account  of  unworthiness  of  their  music  to  sur- 
vive, but  because  such  subjects  and  characters  as  those 


FRENCH  OPERA  TO  1850 


305 


of  "  Robert  le  Diable,"  "  L'Africaine,"  "  Le  ProphSte  " 
and  even  "  Les  Huguenots  "  are  no  longer  enjoyed  by  a 
public  which  is  coming  to  demand  greater  simplicity 
and  a  finer  psychologic  interpretation. 

Meyerbeer's  greatest  work  is  unquestionably  "  Les 
Huguenots,"  and  while  portions  are  tawdry  and  coarse, 
others  deserve  all  the  praise  that  has  been  lavished  upon 
them.  Such  scenes  as  the  consecration  of  the  swords 
and  the  last  interview  between  Valentine  and  Raoul  are 
not  only  the  high- water  mark  of  their  author's  genius, 
but  seem  destined  to  hold  their  place  among  the  noblest 
pages  in  the  literature  of  the  opera.  Even  Wagner 
could  pause  in  his  denunciation  of  the  arch-corruptor  of 
dramatic  taste,  as  he  deemed  him,  to  pay  enthusiastic 
tribute  to  the  genius  that  conceived  these  two  powerful 
scenes. 

The  success  of  Meyerbeer's  three  chief  operas  was 
hardly  less  in  Germany  than  in  France.  From  the  first 
appearance  of  "  Robert  le  Diable  "  until  the  opening  of 
the  Bayreuth  theatre  Meyerbeer  dominated  the  German 
stage. 

The  only  composer  in  Meyerbeer's  genre  who  could 
be  called  a  rival  was  Jacques-Francois -Elias  Hale'vy 
(1799-1862),  whose  grand  opera,  "La  Juive  "  (1835), 
compounded  of  elements  very  similar  to  those  of  Meyer- 
beer's "  historic  "  operas,  contains  enough  of  dramatic 
force  and  musical  beauty  to  give  it  an  honored  place 
upon  the  French  stage.  Of  Halevy's  numerous  operas- 
comiques  only  one,  "  L'Eclair,"  is  considered  worthy  of 
the  fame  of  the  author  of  "  La  Juive." 

"  In  spite  of  its  numerous  defects  the  grand  opera  has 

20 


306    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


exercised  an  important  influence  upon  the  further  de- 
velopment of  the  music  drama.  By  a  more  productive 
drawing  together  of  orchestral,  mimetic  and  decorative 
means  of  effect,  it  pointed  the  way  to  a  unified  work  of  art. 
It  effected  a  significant  increase  of  the  expressive  power 
of  the  orchestra  as  compared  with  the  classic  heroic  opera. 
It  pointed  the  way  to  a  blending  of  detached  4  numbers ' 
into  solid  scenes  and  acts.  It  held  the  opera  singers  — 
and  this  is  perhaps  its  chief  service  —  to  actual  dramatic 
tasks,  and  made  at  least  a  beginning  in  the  education  of 
singers  to  be  actors.  Thus  the  grand  opera  in  its  way 
helped  to  prepare  the  new  music  drama"  (Merian, 
Geschichte  der  Musik  im  neunzehnten  Jahrhunder€). 

The  critical  literature  in  English  upon  this  very  important 
phase  of  music  history  is  not  so  ample  as  it  should  be.  Hervey's 
French  Music  in  the  Nineteenth  Century  is  sketchy,  but  sound  and 
interesting,  and  written  sympathetically.  Apthorp's  The  Opera, 
Past  and  Present,  also  brief  and  cursory,  is  trustworthy.  See 
also  Famous  Composers  and  their  Works,  series  i,  article  Music  in 
France;  Henderson,  How  Music  Developed;  Parry,  The  Evolution 
of  the  Art  of  Music  ;  Grove's  Dictionary,  articles  Opera,  Schools. 
For  the  individual  composers  :  Grove's  Dictionary  and  Famous 
Coynposers  and  their  Works  are  usually  full  and  judicious.  More 
than  enough  on  Spontini  is  given  by  Spitta  in  his  Grove's  Dic- 
tionary article.  Meyerbeer  has  received  more  attention  from 
the  critics  than  any  other  French  composer.  Mr.  Apthorp's 
detailed  and  very  able  article  in  Musicians  and  Music  Lovers  is 
especially  recommended.  The  strong  points  in  Meyerbeer's  work 
are  also  well  brought  out  by  Mr.  Hervey  in  French  Music  in  the 
Nineteenth  Century.  The  article  in  Famous  Composers,  series  i, 
by  Pougin,  an  authoritative  French  historian,  is  also  favorable. 
Schumann's  unqualified  condemnation  of  Meyerbeer's  art  may  be 
found  in  Music  and  Musicians  (trans,  by  F.  R.  Ritter),  series  i, 
article  Meyerbeer's  "Huguenots."  Wagner's  much  quoted  charac- 
terization of  Meyerbeer  in  Opera  and  Drama  (Ellis'  trans.), 


FRENCH  OPERA  TO  1850 


307 


although  malignant,  is  very  entertaining  and  contains  a  good  deal  of 
truth.  The  biographies  of  Wagner,  especially  that  by  Glasenapp- 
Ellis,  give  much  space  to  Meyerbeer  and  his  relation  to  Wagner. 
Wagner's  recollections  of  Spontini  (Prose  Works,  Ellis,  vol.  iii) 
and  of  Auber  (vol.  v)  are  interesting. 

For  famous  singers  of  the  French  stage  see  allusions  and 
references  in  the  preceding  chapter  of  this  book.  The  part 
played  by  Scribe,  the  celebrated  playwright  and  librettist  for  Auber, 
Meyerbeer  and  Hale'vy,  in  the  shaping  of  the  grand  opera  must  be 
recognized.  There  is  an  interesting  chapter  on  him  by  Brander 
Matthews  in  French  Dramatists  of  the  Nineteenth  Century. 

Some  of  the  most  important  works  of  the  French  writers  of 
grand  opera  and  opera-comique  in  this  period  are  published  in 
vocal  and  piano  score  by  Novello,  Boosey  and  others.  Plots  will 
be  found  in  the  books  by  Upton  and  Annesley. 


XXXVIII 


RICHARD  WAGNER,  1813-1883 

LIST   OF   WORKS.  —  Dramatic:   "Die  Feen" 
(1833},  first  performed  at  Munich,  1888 ;  "Das  Liebes- 
verbot"  {1835-6),  performed  but  once,  at  Magdeburg, 
1836  ;  "Rienzi  "  (1838-40),  first  performed  at  Dresden, 
184% ;  "Der  fliegende  Hollander"  (184-1),  first  per- 
formed at  Dresden,  181$;  44  Tannhduser  "  (1844-5), 
first   performed    at    Dresden,   1845 ;    4  4  Lohengrin  " 
(1846-8),  first  performed   at   Weimar,  1850 ;   "  Das 
Rheingold"  (part  i  of  44  Der  Ring  des  Nibelungen" ; 
1853-4),  fi^   performed    at   Munich,    1869;    "  Die 
Walkilre  99  (part  ii  of  44  Der  Ring 99 ;  finished  1856),  first 
performed  at  Munich,  1870;  "Siegfried"  (part  Hi  of 
44  Der  Ring  99 ;  finished  1869),  first  performed  at  Bay- 
reuth,  1876  ;  44  Die  Gotterddmmerung 99  (part  iv  of  "  Der 
Ring  99 ;  completed  1874),  firsi  performed  at  Bayreuth, 
1876  ;  44  Tristan  und  Isolde  99  (completed  1859),  first  per- 
formed at  Munich,  1865 ;  "Die  Meister -singer  von  Nilrn- 
berg 99  (completed  1867),  first  performed  at  Munich, 
1868  ;  4  4  Parsifal 99  (completed  1882),  first  performed  at 
Bayreuth,  1882. 

Orchestral  and  choral  works,  the  most  important  of 
which  are  the  symphony  in  C,  "Faust"  overture,  "Sieg- 
fried Idyll,"  "Kaiser"  march  and  "Das  Liebesmahl 
der  Apostel"  (for  male  chorus  and  orchestra);  a  few 
piano  pieces  and  songs. 


RICHARD  WAGNER,  1813-1883  309 


Prose  works,  German  edition,  ten  volumes,  English 
translation  by  William  Ashton  Ellis,  eight  volumes. 

There  is  no  other  composer  whose  study  involves  so 
wide  a  range  of  inquiry  as  Richard  Wagner.  He  was 
both  composer  and  philosophic  thinker,  and  the  form 
and  character  of  his  dramas  can  be  understood  only  in 
the  light  of  the  principles  and  motives  which  their 
author  has  himself  expressed  in  his  critical  writings. 
The  views  which  controlled  him  as  a  musical  dramatist 
concern  problems  of  music,  poetry,  ethics,  history, 
sociology  and  politics,  so  that  a  comprehensive  study 
of  them  would  lead  us  into  many  of  the  leading  intel- 
lectual movements  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

Wagner  not  only  professed  to  be  a  reformer  of  the 
opera,  but  also  tried  to  show  how  dramatic  art  might 
be  made  the  mirror  of  the  forces  that  work  for  progress 
in  human  life,  and  at  the  same  time  contribute  to  the 
elevation  of  society  through  its  convincing  presentation 
of  the  loftiest  ideals.  He  conceived  the  music  drama 
to  be  the  highest  form  of  art,  —  a  means  by  which  man 
may  be  revealed  to  man  as  he  is  and  as  he  may  be. 
Wagner's  musical  works  were  created  under  the  stimu- 
lus of  this  enthusiasm,  and  his  critical  writings  were 
designed  to  make  his  purpose  apparent  to  the  world  and 
to  prepare  the  public  properly  to  comprehend  his  works 
in  their  every  detail.  This  recognition  of  Wagner's 
purpose  is  necessary  to  a  proper  understanding  of  the 
man  and  his  life.  Although  his  music  and  poetry  must 
stand  or  fall,  like  all  art  work,  by  their  own  inherent 
quality  as  pure  art,  yet  judgment  cannot  be  justly 


310    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


passed  without  taking,  for  the  moment  at  least,  the  com- 
poser's own  point  of  view,  and  comparing  the  product 
with  the  motive. 

As  respects  the  character  of  Wagner's  works  his  aim 
was  (1)  to  make  the  opera  a  serious  and  noble  form 
of  art,  instead  of  a  mere  plaything  or  a  means  of  pro- 
ducing temporary  excitement;  (2)  to  treat  upon  the 
stage  subjects  which  had  moral  and  intellectual  as  well 
as  aesthetic  value,  and  to  create  personages  who  could 
be  recognized  as  genuine  and  representative,  and  (3) 
to  raise  poetry,  music,  action  and  scenery  to  the  highest 
possible  completeness  and  power,  and  to  unite  them  all 
on  equal  terms  for  the  production  of  a  concentrated  and 
immediate  impression  upon  the  emotion. 

The  important  events  of  Wagner's  life  may  be  hastily 
sketched  as  follows :  Born  at  Leipzig,  May  22,  1813, 
the  youngest  of  a  family  of  seven  children,  a  number 
of  whom  became  actors  and  singers.  His  father  dying 
in  Richard's  infancy,  his  mother  soon  after  married 
Ludwig  Geyer,  a  successful  actor  and  singer  and  writer 
of  comedies.  Wagner's  earliest  experience  was  in  the 
shadow  of  the  theatre.  His  first  inclinations  were 
towards  literature ;  his  musical  genius  was  slow  in  as- 
serting itself,  but  an  impulse  once  received  he  mastered 
musical  science  with  extraordinary  speed.  His  few 
months  of  study  in  counterpoint  with  Weinlig  were  of 
great  value,  but  the  greater  part  of  his  musical  knowl- 
edge was  acquired  by  practice  under  his  own  direction 
and  the  study  of  the  orchestral  works  of  the  older 
masters.  His  chief  musical  influences  were  drawn  from 
the  opera  performances  under  Weber  at  Dresden  and 


RICHARD  WAGNER,  1813-1883 


311 


the  orchestral  concerts  at  the  Leipzig  Gewandhaus. 
He  became  familiar  with  the  dramatic  works  of  the 
Greeks,  Shakspeare,  Goethe  and  Schiller.  His  early 
orchestral  and  piano  compositions  may  be  called  appren- 
tice work.  His  first  salaried  position  was  at  the  Wiirz- 
bursr  theatre  as  chorus  master,  where  he  wrote  "Die 
Feen"  (1833).  He  next  became  opera  director  at 
Magdeburg,  where  "  Das  Liebesverbot "  was  written. 
After  a  short  stay  at  Konigsberg,  where  he  married 
Wilhelmine  Planer,  an  actress,  he  was  appointed  opera 
director  at  Riga  in  1837.  Ill  success  and  ambition 
drove  him  to  Paris  in  1839  in  the  hope  of  bringing  out 
"  Rienzi."  His  life  in  Paris  was  one  of  disillusion  and 
extreme  privation,  from  which  he  was  rescued  by  an 
appointment  as  second  director  at  the  Royal  Opera  of 
Dresden.  He  remained  in  this  position  seven  years. 
His  plans  for  the  improvement  of  the  Dresden  opera  were 
constantly  thwarted ;  "  Tannhauser  "  was  unappreciated ; 
"  Lohengrin "  could  not  obtain  a  performance ;  the 
natural  development  of  his  genius  and  the  realization 
of  his  reform  plans  were  made  impossible.  A  supposed 
participation  in  the  futile  attempt  at  revolution  in 
Saxony  in  1849  (the  exact  facts  in  the  matter  are  not 
yet  established)  drove  Wagner  into  precipitate  flight 
to  avoid  arrest  and  he  took  refuge  in  Switzerland.  Here 
he  spent  thirteen  distressful  years,  supported  chiefly 
by  an  annuity  from  a  certain  Frau  Wille,  occasional 
gifts  from  Liszt  and  others,  and  meagre  proceeds  from 
performances  of  his  operas.  The  creative  work  of  his 
years  of  exile  includes  "  Tristan  und  Isolde,"  "  Das 
Rheingold,"  "  Die  Walkiire,"  the  first  act  of  "  Siegfried  " 


312    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


and  a  large  part  of  his  prose  writings.  His  condem- 
nation was  revoked  by  the  Saxon  authorities  and  he 
returned  to  Germany  in  1861.  Disappointment  con- 
tinued and  he  was  saved  from  apparent  ruin  by  King 
Ludwig  II.  of  Bavaria,  who  summoned  him  to  Munich 
to  continue  his  work  under  the  royal  bounty.  In  spite 
of  the  king's  favor  and  the  production  of  "  Tristan  und 
Isolde,"  "Die  Meistersinger,"  "Das  Rheingold"  and 
"  Die  Walkiire  "  a  cabal  of  musicians  and  critics  defeated 
the  plan  of  founding  a  Wagner  dramatic  establishment 
at  Munich,  and  arrangements  were  soon  made  for  the 
building  of  a  theatre  at  Bayreuth.  The  corner-stone 
was  laid  in  1873  and  the  work  was  completed  in  1876 
and  dedicated  by  the  first  complete  performance  of 
"Der  Ring  des  Nibelungen."  The  project  for  the 
establishment  of  a  training  school  for  actors  and  singers 
according  to  the  new  Wagnerian  principles  and  for 
model  performances  of  the  masterpieces  of  German  art 
was  never  fulfilled.  Wagner  married  Cosima  LiszWon 
Biilow  in  1870.  "  Parsifal  "  was  produced  at  Ba}rreuth 
in  1882.    Wagner  died  at  Venice,  February  13,  1883. 

Wagner's  life  cannot,  of  course,  be  studied  apart  from  the 
criticism  of  his  works,  but  the  standard  biographies  may  be  men- 
tioned here.  First  in  authority  and  bulk  is  the  Life  of  Richard 
Wagner  by  Glasenapp,  translated  and  enlarged  by  Wm.  Ash  ton 
Ellis.  It  is  still  incomplete,  four  volumes  having  appeared  (Janu- 
ary, 1905).  It  is  a  mine  of  trustworthy  information,  and  is  clear 
and  interesting  in  spite  of  the  vast  amount  of  detail.  Finck's 
Wagner  and  his  Works,  2  vols.,  although  not  so  judicial  as  might 
be  wished,  is  the  work  of  an  able  scholar  and  brilliant  writer.  An 
admirable  book  for  its  size  is  Henderson's  Richard  Wagner,  his 
Life  and  his  Dramas.  The  beautifully  illustrated  Life  of  Wagner, 
by  H.  S.  Chamberlain,  gives  much  valuable  information.    J ullienV 


RICHARD  WAGNER,  1813-1883 


313 


Richard  Wagner,  his  Life  and  Works,  2  vols.,  trans,  by  Florence 
Hall,  is  the  work  of  a  well-known  French  authority.  The  small 
works  by  Kobbe  and  Muncker  are  well  written,  but  not  especially 
necessary  to  the  student.  Praeger's  Wagner  as  I  Knew  him  has 
been  discredited.  All  that  is  certainly  known  concerning  Wagner's 
connection  with  the  Dresden  revolutionary  agitation  is  given  by 
Ellis,  1849 :  A  Vindication. 

Among  the  numerous  dictionary  and  magazine  articles  particu- 
lar mention  need  be  made  only  of  the  excellent  article  Wagner 
in  Grove's  Dictionary,  and  the  chapter  on  Wagner  in  Famous 
Composers  and  their  Works. 

As  sources  of  first-hand  information  important  material  was 
contributed  by  Wagner's  own  pen.  There  is  a  brief  Autobio- 
graphical Sketch  in  Prose  Works  (Ellis),  vol.  i,  extending  to  the 
year  1842,  and  an  elaborate  account  of  the  development  of  his  art 
and  theories  in  A  Communication  to  my  Friends,  1851,  Prose  Works 
(Ellis),  vol.  i.  Of  the  highest  interest  and  value  are  the  Corre- 
spondence of  Wagner  and  Liszt,  2  vols.,  trans,  by  Hueffer;  Letters  of 
Richard  Wagner  to  his  Dresden  Friends  :  Uhlig,  Fischer,  and  Heine, 
trans,  by  Shedlock;  Wagner's  Letters  to  Roeckel,  trans,  by  Sellar; 
Wagner's  Letters  to  Wesendonck  et  al,  trans,  by  Ellis ;  Wagner's 
Letters  to  Heckel,  trans,  by  Ellis;  Letters  of  Wagner  to  Mathilde 
Wesendonck,  trans,  by  Ellis. 

Nothing  is  more  remarkable  in  the  annals  of  music 
than  the  expansion  of  Wagner's  powers  as  composer  and 
dramatist,  leading  to  a  complete  transformation  of  style. 
From  "  Rienzi "  to  "  Tristan  und  Isolde  "  the  musical 
progress  of  a  century  would  almost  seem  to  be  concen- 
trated ;  in  the  latter  work  there  is  absolutely  no  sugges- 
tion of  the  former,  they  appear  as  if  they  might  belong 
to  two  different  composers  as  they  certainly  do  to  two 
different  epochs.  The  real  Wagner  begins  with  "  Der 
fliegende  Hollander,"  for  while  this  work  is  like  a  sketch, 
or  a  statue  blocked  out  in  the  rough,  and  still  showing 
the  influence  of  the  French  and  Italian  schools,  the 
effort  is  apparent  to  fuse  the  musical  and  dramatic  ele- 


314    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


ments  together  and  unify  the  work  by  a  single  consistent 
dramatic  conception.  The  study  of  Wagner's  develop- 
ment may  well  begin  with  this  opera.  The  goal  for 
which  Wagner  was  more  or  less  consciously  aiming  is 
indicated  already  in  his  Remarks  on  Performing  "  The 
Flying  Dutchman"  {Prose  Works,  Ellis,  vol.  iii). 

Wagner's  discovery  that  in  bringing  the  music  of  a 
drama  under  the  direct  shaping  control  of  the  poetry  he 
must  recast  the  traditional  forms  is  the  clue  to  "  Tann- 
hauser," for  in  this  work  we  see  him  for  the  first  time 
capable  of  grappling  with  his  problem.  His  song 
becomes  vastly  more  varied,  pliable  and  expressive,  and 
he  shows  a  strength  in  the  handling  of  the  orchestra 
which  is  very  significant  in  view  of  future  results. 
Poetically  "  Tannhauser  "  is  one  of  the  most  satisfactory 
of  his  works :  it  has  dignity,  unity,  symmetry  of  plot, 
distinctness  and  consistency  of  characters  and  a  vivid 
human  interest  sustained  to  the  end.  Three  elements,  not 
originally  united  in  the  sources  from  which  Wagner  drew, 
are  skilfully  combined,  viz.  the  mediaeval  story  of  Venus, 
Tannhauser  and  the  pope's  staff,  the  legend  of  the  con- 
test of  the  minstrels,  and  the  character  of  Elizabeth  of 
the  Wartburg  (St.  Elizabeth  of  mediaeval  history).  The 
ethical  purport  of  the  plan  is  unmistakable,  although,  as 
Wagner  himself  says,  he  had  no  intention  of  conveying 
a  pious,  sentimental  lesson.  "  Tannhauser  "  is,  however, 
a  transition  work  ;  there  are  musical  "  numbers  "  capable 
of  detachment  (Wolfram's  invocation,  Elizabeth's  prayer, 
the  pilgrims'  choruses,  the  march,  etc.),  and  there  are 
passages,  such  as  the  duet  between  Tannhauser  and 


RICHARD  WAGNER,  1813-1883  315 


Elizabeth  in  the  second  act,  which  in  their  conven- 
tional cut  and  orchestral  thinness  seem  strangely  re- 
actionary. On  the  other  hand  in  the  renunciation  of 
vocal  display  in  the  contest  of  the  minstrels,  and  espe- 
cially in  Tannhauser's  narrative  in  the  last  act,  we  rind 
the  prophecy  of  the  Wagner  of  the  later  dramas.  The 
latter  scene  should  be  especially  studied;  it  is  mature 
Wagnerianism  in  embryo.  In  the  study  of  this  opera 
Wagner's  Remarks  on  the  Performing  of  "  Tannhduser  " 
in  the  Prose  Works,  vol.  iii  (Ellis),  are  illuminating. 

In  "  Lohengrin  "  is  seen  a  still  more  consistent  effort 
to  merge  and  interpenetrate  the  poetic  and  musical  fac- 
tors ;  the  conventional  periodic  structure  is  broken  up, 
and  the  aria  and  recitative  distinctions  are  thrown  aside 
in  the  attainment  of  a  continuous  and  entirely  flexible 
musical  current.  The  bridal  chorus  and  an  occasional 
emptiness  in  transition  passages  betray  a  vanishing  sur- 
vival of  the  old  operatic  habit.  The  musical  invention 
is  more  sustained  than  in  "  Tannhauser,"  the  orchestra- 
tion richer.  The  subject  is  more  remote  from  human 
interest  than  in  most  of  Wagner's  works  ;  the  psychologic 
motive  does  not  seem  adequate  to  the  catastrophe.  The 
great  popularity  of  "  Lohengrin  "  is  probably  due  to  the 
tone  of  mediasval  chivalric  and  religious  mysticism, 
which  is  diffused  throughout  a  large  part  of  the  work. 
In  "  Lohengrin  "  the  use  of  "  leading-motives  "  becomes 
more  prominent.  The  prelude  is  highly  original  in  con- 
ception and  treatment. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  "  Der  Ring  des  Nibe- 
lungen  "  was  developed  by  Wagner  out  of  the  notion  of 
a  dramatic  ballad  on  Siegfried's  death.    The  text,  there- 


316     THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


fore,  was,  we  may  say,  composed  backward  and  the 
music  forward.  This  gradual  expansion  of  a  simple 
germ,  and  the  growth  of  Wagner's  mind  with  its  hasty 
adoption  of  philosophic  ideas  from  Feuerbach  and 
Schopenhauer,  not  sufficiently  thought  out  or  assimi- 
lated, the  number  of  years,  with  long  interruptions, 
occupied  with  the  work,  —  all  will  explain  the  dramatic 
confusions  and  inconsistencies  which  have  made  "Der 
Ring  des  Nibelungen  "  a  stumbling-block  to  commenta- 
tors. The  large  space  given  in  a  drama  to  elements 
that  are  altogether  epic,  the  almost  complete  withdrawal 
of  Wo  tan,  the  hero  of  the  play,  before  the  work  is  half 
over,  the  complete  change  in  Siegfried's  character  and 
his  pitiable  failure  to  carry  out  the  mission  which  the 
conception  of  the  first  part  of  the  play  lays  upon  him, 
the  bewildering  mixture  of  allegory  and  straightforward 
representation,  are  all  due  to  the  impossibility  of  clearly 
setting  forth  in  dramatic  form  the  modern  problem  of 
social  restriction  and  individual  freedom,  by  means  of  a 
literal  presentation  of  the  events  in  an  ancient,  crude 
nature  myth.  In  individual  scenes,  however,  Wagner 
rises  to  his  highest  pitch  in  this  work  ;  and  in  the  power 
with  which  it  expresses  every  shade  of  human  emotion, 
in  the  consummate  skill  with  which  its  author  shapes, 
directs  and  develops  his  vast  material,  it  is  a  master- 
piece without  parallel  in  the  history  of  music. 

"  Tristan  und  Isolde  "  and  "  Die  Meistersinger,"  on 
the  other  hand,  are  clear  and  simple.  Poetically  they 
are  Wagner's  most  consistent  and  perfect  works,  admi- 
rably adapted  to  musical  treatment.  The  second,  classed 
by  its  author  as  comedy,  is  of  the  French  "  middle  char- 


RICHARD  WAGNER,  1813-1883  317 


acter,"  the  humorous  scenes  are  accessory  to  the  serious 
meaning  of  the  work,  which  may  be  called  a  plea  for 
liberality  and  progress  in  art  production  and  art  judg- 
ment. In  Hans  Sachs,  the  hero  of  the  piece,  Wagner 
has  created  one  of  the  most  poetic  and  attractive  charac- 
ters in  modern  opera. 

"  Tristan  und  Isolde  "  is  simply  a  tragedy  of  love. 
In  sheer  luxury  of  tone,  amazing  variety  in  playing 
upon  a  single  theme  and  in  the  sublimity  of  the  expres- 
sion of  passion  Wagner  in  this  work  not  only  surpasses 
all  other  dramatic  composers,  but  even  rises  above  him- 
self. In  "  Tristan  "  his  reform  theories  of  musical  and 
poetic  amalgamation  are  carried  out  to  the  furthest 
possible  completeness.  There  is  not  a  single  word 
repetition  ;  there  is  not  the  slightest  concession  to  tradi- 
tional operatic  structure. 

"  Parsifal,"  like  "  Der  Ring  "  and  "  Lohengrin,"  is  an 
allegory,  and  shares  the  weaknesses  of  allegory,  especially 
when  put  into  dramatic  form.  The  curious  blend  of 
religious  mysticism  and  sensuousness  has  given  rise  to 
the  most  contradictory  estimates  of  this  work.  Some 
look  upon  it  as  an  act  of  worship,  and  the  purest  mod- 
ern portrayal  of  the  essential  principle  in  Christianity ; 
to  others  it  is  morbid  and  sensual,  corrupt  in  its  concep- 
tion and  degrading  in  its  effect.  Musically  there  is  a 
slight  falling  off  in  "  Parsifal "  as  compared  with  its 
predecessors ;  there  is  less  spontaneity,  less  impression  of 
endless  resource  in  development  of  themes.  Its  panora- 
mas are  the  most  beautiful  in  the  history  of  the  modern 
stage,  and  to  them  the  overpowering  effect  of  the  work 
is  largely  due. 


318    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


The  stories  of  Wagner's  plots  have  been  told  over  and  over  with 
wholly  needless  repetition,  in  every  conceivable  manner,  from  the 
coolly  analytic  to  the  rhapsodical.  There  is  even  a  "  Wagner  for 
Infants."  We  also  have  a  multitude  of  "  interpretations,"  from 
the  sane  and  philosophic  to  the  sentimental  and  ecstatic.  The 
amount  and  diversity  of  the  Wagner  literature  are  bewildering  ; 
the  books  and  pamphlets  in  the  various  languages  on  Wagner  and 
his  teachings  perhaps  equal  in  number  those  on  all  the  other 
nineteenth-century  composers  combined.  The  student  will  find 
difficulty  in  keeping  his  head  clear.  The  simplest  statements 
should  be  read  first,  and  here  we  may  recommend  for  the  begin- 
ning of  Wagner  study,  Lavignac's  The  Music  Dramas  of  Richard 
Wagner  and  Henderson's  Richard  Wagner.  Fuller  accounts  in  the 
larger  works  of  Finck,  Chamberlain  and  Jullien,  mentioned  above. 
The  profuse  work  of  Glasenapp  and  Ellis  is  the  final  resort  for 
the  most  minute  facts  connected  with  the  conception  and  working 
out  of  Wagner's  plays.  As  a  study  of  the  sources  from  which 
Wagner  drew  his  plots  and  characters,  Miss  Weston's  Legends  of 
the  Wagner  Drama  is  of  the  highest  value.  See  also  Dippold's 
books,  The  Great  Epics  of  Mediaeval  Germany  and  Wagners  Poem: 
"  The  Ring  of  the  Nibelung."  Wagner's  own  statement  of  his  in- 
tentions and  the  circumstances  under  which  his  works  were  con- 
structed may  be  found  in  his  Prose  Works  and  Letters. 

Wagner's  religious,  ethical,  social  and  political  ideas  are  often 
passed  over  by  commentators  and  biographers.  They  are  involved, 
however,  in  a  complete  study  of  the  Wagner  question.  Whether 
Wagner  really  contributed  anything  to  the  solution  of  the  great 
problems  of  life  which  agitate  the  present  age  is  a  disputed 
question.  For  an  emphatic  affirmative  see  Chamberlain,  Richard 
Wagner ;  for  an  equally  emphatic  negative,  Newman,  A  Study  of 
Wagner.  The  second  of  these  two  is,  in  the  opinion  of  the  present 
writer,  the  ablest  book  on  Wagner  in  the  English  language.  The 
author  is  competent  to  discuss  every  phase  of  the  difficult  questions 
involved  in  the  subject.  While  denying  that  Wagner  had  a  philo- 
sophic mind  at  all,  he  unites  with  his  most  ardent  admirers  in  the 
assertion  of  his  unparalleled  musical  gifts.  As  a  criticism  of  the 
dramatic  structure  of  Wagner's  operas,  the  book  is  also  of  high 
value.  G.  Bernard  Shaw's  The  Perfect  Wagnerite,  which  must  be 
read  with  some  qualification,  is  brilliant  and  suggestive. 

The  texts  of  Wagner's  dramas  have  been  translated  into  English, 


RICHARD  WAGNER,  1813-1883  319 

and  all  after  "  Lohengrin  "  are  published  in  separate  volumes.  The 
versions  of  H.  &  F.  Corder  leave  much  to  be  desired;  the  attempts 
to  preserve  the  alliteration  in  "The  Ring  of  the  Nibelung,"  for 
example,  lead  to  almost  grotesque  results.  Forman's  translations 
of  "Der  Ring,"  "Tristan"  and  "Parsifal"  are  of  a  far  higher 
order. 

A  brief  summary  of  the  subjects  involved  in  the 
analytic  study  of  Wagner's  works  is  all  that  properly 
comes  within  the  scope  of  this  volume.  The  student 
will  use  this  outline  as  a  guide  in  the  study  of  Wagner's 
musical  works,  and  in  the  reading  of  the  Wagner  com- 
mentaries. Wagner's  abstruse  speculations  on  "  the 
birth  of  the  art-work  out  of  necessity,"  "the  Folk  as 
the  community  of  all  who  feel  a  common  and  collective 
want,"  "  turning  the  Willed-not  into  the  Non-existing," 
"  the  inner  man  finding  direct  communication  only 
through  tone-speech,"  the  nature  of  this  convincing 
tone-speech,  music  as  "  the  bearing  power  and  poetry 
the  begetting,"  the  disintegration  and  therefore  deca- 
dence of  the  composite  art  of  the  Greeks,  the  relative 
values  of  alliteration  and  end-rhyme,  man  in  the  myth, 
the  "error"  of  the  state,  regeneration  through  love,  etc., 
may  be  of  interest  to  those  who  enjoy  wandering  in  such 
cloudy  regions,  made  all  the  more  shifty  by  Wagner's 
peculiar  philosophic  jargon,  and  they  have  a  bearing 
upon  the  study  of  Wagner  the  man.  But  these  things 
have  little  to  do  with  the  enjoyment  and  appreciation  of 
Wagner's  dramas  as  creations  of  dramatic  and  musical 
art.  The  first  study  at  least  must  be  simply  an  exam- 
ination of  the  construction  and  development  of  these 
works  and  the  technical  methods  employed. 

Wagner  proclaimed  himself  a  reformer  of  the  opera  and 


320    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


the  creator  of  a  new  art  construction,  the  lyric  drama. 
Why  was  reform  necessary  ?  What  was  the  thing  to  be 
reformed  ?  The  answer  is  be  found  in  the  history  of  the 
Italian,  French  and  German  opera,  as  indicated  in  pre- 
ceding chapters  of  this  book.  The  radical  error  in  the 
opera,  as  Wagner  sums  it  up  in  his  Oper  und  Drama, 
is  that  whereas  the  dramatic  element  should  be  the  end 
and  the  musical  element  the  means,  in  the  opera  the 
musical  effect  was  always  the  end  and  the  drama  the 
means.  Wagner  conceived  himself  a  poet  first  and  musi- 
cian second.  It  is  understood,  of  course,  that  Wagner 
was  himself  the  author  of  all  his  texts.  Granting  that 
Wagner's  texts  and  characters  are  superior  to  those  of 
all  other  opera  writers,  was  he  not  after  all  first  and  fore- 
most a  musician?  Do  we  not  hear  his  works  for  the 
sake  of  their  music  primarily?  Does  he  ever  really 
subordinate  music  to  verse  except  occasionally,  as  in 
some  of  the  monologues,  which  are  by  general  consent 
the  most  uninteresting  passages  in  his  works  ? 

That  there  is,  however,  a  greater  unity  among  music, 
verse,  action  and  scenery  than  in  the  operas  of  any  other 
previous  writer  must  be  granted  at  once,  and  the  first 
question  should  be  in  regard  to  this  unity  and  how  it  is 
effected.  We  must  bear  in  mind  that  from  this  point 
in  the  chapter  to  the  end  reference  is  only  to  Wagner's 
mature  style,  as  found  in  "  Der  Ring,"  "  Tristan,"  "  Die 
Meistersinger "  and  "Parsifal." 

The  attempt  to  merge  poetic  form  and  musical  form, 
poetic  rhythm  and  musical  rhythm,  produces  a  kind  of 
melody  that  is,  if  not  absolutely  original,  a  complete 
logical  development  of  a  style  of  "  continuous  music  " 


RICHARD  WAGNER,  1813-1883  321 

already  found  among  previous  composers,  as  for  example 
with  Weber  in  "Euryanthe."  The  instinct  of  composers 
has  always  been  towards  a  loosening  of  strict  periodic 
form  and  a  freely  flowing  composition  in  highly  emo- 
tional situations  (cf.  the  final  scene  between  Don  Gio- 
vanni and  the  statue  in  Mozart's  opera).  In  conventional 
opera  forms  the  rhythmic  laws  are  essentially  those  of 
absolute  music ;  Wagner  directs  his  persistent  attack 
upon  the  aria  as  an  outcome  of  the  dance,  and  as  utterly 
inadequate  to  true  dramatic  expression.  With  Wagner 
the  melody  is  "  composed  poetically."  The  effect  upon 
melody  of  this  renunciation  of  the  traditional  laws  of 
musical  form  is  shown  upon  every  page  of  Wagner's 
later  scores.  We  find  a  prevailing  declamatory  charac- 
ter, accompanied  recitative  raised  to  its  highest  power, 
absence  of  vocal  ornamentation,  avoidance  of  complete 
cadences,  exclusion  of  set  forms  of  tune,  fusion  of  the 
recitative  and  melodic  styles,  persistent  modulation. 
There  is  nothing  to  prevent  an  instant  change  of  key 
or  rhythm  at  any  point;  the  music  reflects  the  slight- 
est shift  of  movement,  mood  and  situation  upon  the 
stage.  This  is  Wagner's  "endless  melody,"  running 
sometimes  through  a  whole  act  without  a  break,  at  times 
rising  into  the  most  impassioned  strains  of  regulated 
tunefulness,  again  sinking  to  a  monotonous  intoning; 
a  musical  current  without  form  in  the  established  sense, 
but  still  highly  organized  on  the  basis  of  the  poetic 
movement,  completely  pliant  to  the  composer's  will,  ex- 
pressive to  the  minutest  detail.  There  is  never  any 
pause  in  the  action  to  enable  the  singer  to  deliver  a 
vocal  "  number  "  ;  he  merges  his  own  personality  in  the 

21 


322    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


scene  of  which  he  is  only  one  of  several  elements. 
The  text,  it  will  be  observed,  is  not  contrived  to  allow 
opportunity  for  set  musical  forms ;  hence  a  more  uniform 
diction  and  a  more  regular  and  steadily  progressing 
dramatic  movement.  The  form  of  the  whole  is  poetic, 
not  musical,  form. 

The  tendency  in  later  opera  history  to  expand  the 
power  of  expression  that  lies  in  the  orchestra  and  to 
lead  it  into  the  heart  of  the  situation  and  the  text  —  a 
development  inevitable  in  view  of  the  progress  of  sym- 
phonic music  —  reached  its  climax  with  Wagner.  That 
he  entirely  subordinated  the  voice  to  the  orchestra  is 
asserted  by  some  and  denied  by  others.  He  certainly 
enhanced  the  function  of  the  orchestra  beyond  all  prece- 
dent. The  leading  melodies  are  not  in  the  voice  part 
but  in  the  instrumental ;  the  voice  melody  is  woven  into 
the  orchestral  texture,  obligato  fashion ;  it  may  be  below 
or  upon  the  surface  of  the  concurrent  sound.  The 
orchestra's  function  is  twofold,  —  to  render  emotion  and 
to  depict  situation  and  movement.  Wagner  does  not  so 
much  attempt  to  suggest  individual  temperaments  as 
fundamental  passions  and  motives  in  all  their  oscilla- 
tions. For  example,  it  is  not  Tristan  or  Isolde  as  a  dis- 
tinct personality  that  he  strives  to  depict,  but  love  as  a 
quality,  ebbing  and  flowing  under  various  conditions. 
As  a  "musical  scene-painter"  Wagner's  supremacy  is 
not  denied  even  by  his  adversaries ;  in  reinforcing  the 
effect  of  a  striking  situation  or  picture  by  the  orchestra 
he  stands  alone  among  opera  composers.  His  resources 
of  melody,  harmony  and  tone  color  are  always  com- 
pletely adequate ;  his  audacity  in  bringing  upon  the  stage 


RICHARD  WAGNER,  1813-1883 


323 


the  tremendous  catastrophes  and  gigantic  personalities  of 
the  Norse  myth  is  fully  justified  by  his  boundless  com- 
mand of  every  orchestral  resource.  Take  the  final  scenes 
in  "  Das  Rheingold,"  "Die  Walkiire,"  "Die  Gotterdam- 
merung "  as  cases  in  point.  His  climax  never  fails ; 
musical  effects  accumulate  until  the  primal  forces  of 
nature  seem  to  have  taken  voice.  And  such  music  is 
not  simply  sensational  and  panoramic  ;  it  is  upon  the  sig- 
nificance of  these  scenes,  the  emotion  with  which  they 
are  surveyed,  that  the  composer's  thought  is  fixed. 

Great  as  these  triumphs  are,  Wagner  really  rises  to 
his  climax  as  an  orchestral  composer  in  the  portrayal  of 
feeling.  The  love  avowals  in  the  second  act  of  "  Tristan 
und  Isolde  "  and  the  anguish  of  Amfortas  in  "  Parsifal," 
for  example,  have  no  parallels  in  the  works  of  other 
composers. 

Wagner  also  uses  the  orchestra  in  a  novel  way  to 
keep  the  thought  and  imagery  in  motion  before  the 
spectators  mind  when  the  scenes  are  shifted  and  the 
stage  shrouded,  as  in  the  transition  from  the  first  to  the 
second  act  in  "  Das  Rheingold,"  and  from  the  prologue 
to  the  first  scene  of  "  Die  Gotterdiimmerung." 

The  mutual  relations  of  music,  verse  and  action  in 
the  Wagnerian  scheme  are  also  established  in  a  mechan- 
ical and  systematic  manner  by  the  use  of  what  are 
known  as  "  leading-motives  "  (Leitmotive).  A  dramatic 
plot  contains  certain  personal  and  impersonal  elements, 
—  acting  personages,  inanimate  objects  that  furnish 
occasion  or  means  of  action  (such  as  the  caskets  in  "  The 
Merchant  of  Venice,"  the  sword  in  "  Siegfried  "),  con- 
trolling emotions  (love,  anger,  ambition,  etc.),  abstract 


324     THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


principles  (such  as  justice,  freedom)  and  so  on.  These 
dramatic  elements  may  be  called  the  dramatic  motives. 
In  Wagner's  dramas  all  these  dramatic  motives  have 
each  a  counterpart  in  a  peculiar  musical  phrase,  which 
at  its  first  appearance  is  associated  with  the  poetic  mo- 
tive, and  reappears  whenever  the  idea  is  given  by  words, 
or  appears  before  the  eye,  or  when  for  any  reason  it  is 
desirable  to  suggest  the  idea  to  the  hearer's  mind. 
These  leading-motives  often  have  an  obvious  appropri- 
ateness to  the  related  object  or  conception  (e.  g.  motive 
of  Loge  in  "  Das  Rheingold  "),  often  the  association  is 
arbitrary  (e.g.  motive  of  the  ring).  These  motives  are 
in  the  great  majority  of  cases  given  by  the  orchestra, 
rarely  by  voices.  In  Wagner's  later  works  the  whole 
texture  of  the  score  is  composed  of  developments,  reit- 
erations and  combinations  of  leading-motives.  So  far 
as  suggesting  a  former  idea  by  repeating  a  characteristic 
melody  is  concerned,  the  device  is  not  original  with 
Wagner.  It  is  prominent  in  Weber's  "  Der  Freischutz," 
suggested  even  in  Mozart.  Wagner  was  the  first  to 
make  the  leading-motive  the  whole  basis  of  his  musical 
structure.  The  gist  of  the  whole  matter  is,  however, 
that  these  phrases  are  not  always  exactly  the  same  ; 
when  the  relations  of  their  poetic  counterparts  are  al- 
tered they  also  change  in  harmony,  tempo,  rhythm  or 
even  in  some  of  their  notes.  The  affinity  between  two 
ideas  may  be  suggested  by  a  resemblance  of  their  lead- 
ing-motives. Motives  are  combined  to  express  associa- 
tion of  ideas,  are  broken  off  to  indicate  interruption  or 
destruction,  they  are  used  for  warning,  consolation,  rec- 
ollection, prediction,  etc.    In  each  of  Wagner's  greater 


RICHARD  WAGNER,  1S13-1883 


325 


works  there  is  a  predominant  leading-motive  which  is 
connected  with  the  central  dramatic  factor  (e.  g.  the 
ring  in  "  Der  Ring  des  Nibelungen,"  the  Holy  Grail  in 
"  Parsifal  "). 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  "Wagner  uses  leading- 
motives  merely  to  tell  the  audience  what  to  see  with  their 
mental  eyes,  as  though  the  orchestral  score  were  a  sort  of 
picture  book.  The  Wagner  analysis  books  are  respon- 
sible for  this  defective  notion,  —  they  give  names  to  the 
leading-motives  which  are  in  most  cases  merely  fanciful, 
not  thought  of  by  Wagner.  His  especial  aim  was  to 
give  his  music,  otherwise  vague  and  formless,  a  cohe- 
sion and  organic  plan,  as  a  symphony  writer  builds  up 
his  work  upon  the  development  of  leading  themes. 
There  is  a  close  analogy  here,  Wagner  simply  using  his 
motives  in  such  a  way  that  the  music  is  tied  to  the 
words  and  action  instead  of  bringing  in  the  motives  at 
random.  In  fact  he  distinctly  announces  that  his  music 
is  the  Beethovenian  music  developed,  expanded  and 
applied  to  dramatic  purposes. 

In  Wagner's  works,  therefore,  the  orchestra  is  a  mir- 
ror which  reflects  everything  that  goes  on  upon  the 
stage,  —  every  change  in  scenery,  every  gesture,  has  its 
orchestral  response.  In  this  taking  up  of  the  action 
and  poetry  and  carrying  them  over  to  the  listener's  emo- 
tion he  relies  not  only  upon  melody,  harmony  and 
rhythm,  but  distinctively,  as  an  advanced  modern,  upon 
tone  color,  in  the  use  of  which  he  is  one  of  the  greatest 
of  the  masters  of  his  art. 

The  student  of  harmony  will  find  endless  interest  in 
Wagner's  music.    Steadily  increasing  in  complexity, 


326    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


we  find  in  his  later  works  ("  Die  Meistersinger  "  may 
be  particularly  cited)  an  unsurpassed  mastery  in  free 
contrapuntal  handling.  Strange  and  bewildering  com- 
binations often  result,  impossible  to  classify ;  but  where 
the  case  requires  the  harmony  is  simple,  long  passages 
even  being  found  in  which  there  is  no  change  of  tonal- 
ity.   Such  passages,  however,  are  comparatively  rare. 

Wagner's  works  offer  the  most  beautiful  tableaux 
that  the  history  of  the  stage  can  show.  He  employed 
all  the  acquired  skill  of  the  scene  painter  and  stage  car- 
penter and  machinist,  and  also  demanded  much  that 
was  novel.  The  scene  in  the  Grail  castle  in  "  Parsifal," 
the  mountain  and  forest  scenes  in  "  Der  Ring,"  have 
no  parallels  for  beauty  and  similitude.  Wagner  almost 
revolutionized  the  art  of  stage  mounting.  Many 
devices  for  producing  illusion  are  remarkable  for  clev- 
erness. Others  are  in  the  very  nature  of  the  case  un- 
successful, as  for  example  the  flight  of  the  valkyrs 
through  the  clouds,  the  immolatiou  of  Brynhilde,  the 
forest  bird  in  "  Siegfried."  Scenic  brilliancy  with  Wag- 
ner is,  however,  not  an  end  in  itself  but  a  means.  It  is 
not  merely  decorative,  it  gives  to  the  actors  their  nat- 
ural environment,  it  brings  to  the  eye  an  impression  in 
harmony  with  that  conveyed  by  words,  action  and 
music.  So  with  all  accessories ;  no  other  writer  for  the 
stage  ever  exercised  so  rigid  a  scrutiny  over  every 
detail  of  costume,  decoration  and  mechanism.  The  im- 
pression upon  the  eye  was  to  him  no  less  a  matter  of 
concern  than  that  upon  the  ear,  and  in  the  union  of 
these  impressions  there  must  never  be  the  slightest  fric- 
tion or  divergence. 


RICHARD  WAGNER,  1813-1883 


327 


As  drill  master  and  conductor  Wagner  was  no  less 
an  adept  and  a  law-giver  to  the  whole  modern  school. 
His  critical  writings  abound  in  complaints  of  the  inca- 
pacity of  opera  singers  to  grasp  the  histrionic  demands 
of  the  true  lyric  drama.  The  radical  change  that  has 
come  over  the  conception  of  the  singer-actor's  function 
and  the  methods  of  performance  upon  the  German 
stage,  and  to  a  large  extent  upon  the  French  and  even 
the  Italian,  is  mainly  due  to  his  teaching.  In  his  essay 
On  the  Performing  of  "  Tannhauser  "  (Prose  Works,  vol. 
iii)  will  be  found  the  credo  of  the  new  school.  The 
great  symphony  conductors  of  the  present  day  are  also  the 
disciples  of  Wagner.    (See  his  essay  On  Conducting.) 

In  the  latest  developments  of  the  art  of  orchestration 
Wagner  is  one  of  the  leaders  and  masters.  The  service 
he  demanded  of  the  orchestra  required  an  enlargement 
of  its  powers.  In  his  treatment  of  the  orchestra  for 
dramatic  purposes  he  built  on  Weber  and  Meyerbeer, 
drawing  many  useful  hints  from  Berlioz.  For  technical 
illustrations  of  his  methods  of  obtaining  tone  color  for 
the  purposes  of  description  and  expression  the  student 
is  referred  to  the  text  books.  Certain  broad  features 
which  have  to  do  with  the  general  expansion  of  orches- 
tral writing  may  be  indicated  here.  For  example,  he  often 
divides  the  strings  into  many  parts ;  the  wind  instru- 
ments are  grouped,  not  in  pairs,  as  in  the  classic  orches- 
tra, but  almost  always  in  threes  or  fours  (three  flutes, 
two  oboes  and  an  English  horn,  addition  of  the  bass 
clarinet),  in  order  that  full  harmonies  may  be  obtained 
with  instruments  of  one  tone  color,  attaining  also  greater 
sonority  and  firmness ;  the  brass  instruments  are  in- 


328    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


creased  in  number,  —  six  or  eight  horns,  four  trombones ; 
a  complete  family  of  tubas  appears;  the  trumpets  are 
reinforced  by  the  bass  trumpet.  It  may  be  said  that 
his  orchestra  is  composed  of  little  orchestras  containing 
instruments  of  the  same  timbre  ;  in  uniting,  contrasting, 
dividing,  in  novel  combinations  his  ingenuity  is  exhaust- 
less.  Instruments  not  commonly  used  in  the  orchestra 
are  added  for  necessary  effects  of  illustration,  —  his 
six  harps  are  famous  in  operatic  annals.  He  employs 
the  percussive  instruments  —  kettle  and  bass  drums, 
cymbals,  triangle  —  with  moderation.  It  is  not  only 
a  new  orchestra  that  appears  in  Wagner's  scores,  but 
unheard-of  powers  are  discovered  in  the  old  instruments, 
and  an  unexampled  virtuosity  is  presupposed  on  the 
part  of  the  players. 

All  of  Wagner's  operas,  beginning  with  "  Der  fliegende  Hol- 
lander," are  published  in  vocal  score,  piano  accompaniment,  English 
and  German  texts,  by  Schott  and  by  Schirmer  (the  latter's  edition 
preferred).  The  orchestral  scores  are  expensive.  Schirmer  pub- 
lishes the  full  scores  of  "  Der  Ring  "  and  "  Parsifal  "  in  octavo  size 
at  a  proportionally  reduced  cost.  Wolgozen's  guides  through  the 
music  of  "  Der  Ring,"  "Tristan  und  Isolde"  and  "Parsifal" 
(thematic  analyses  with  the  leading-motives  in  notation)  have  been 
translated  into  English  and  are  indispensable.  For  "  Die  Meis- 
tersinger,"  analysis  by  Heintz.  For  "Parsifal,"  Aldrich,  A  Guide 
to  "  Parsifal" ;  Kufferath,  The  "Parsifal"  of  Richard  Wagner. 
Among  the  commentaries  Wagner's  own  exposition  of  his  theories 
and  methods  takes  the  foremost  place.  The  most  voluminous  and 
complete  is  Opera  and  Drama,  forming  vol.  ii  of  the  Prose  Works 
(Ellis,  tr.).  Among  the  more  condensed  and  clearer  expositions 
are  The  Music  of  the  Future  (vol.  iii),  The  Art  Work  of  the  Future 
(vol.  i),  A  Communication  to  my  Friends  (vol.  i).  Among  other 
essays  of  particular  interest  are  Judaism  in  Music  (vol.  iii),  Preface 
to  the  "  Ring  "  Poem  (vol.  iii),  Art  and  Revolution  (vol.  i),  A  German 
Musician  in  Paris  (vol.  vii),  Beethoven  (vol.  v),  On  Conducting 


RICHARD  WAGNER,  1813-1883  329 


(vol.  iv),  A  Music  School  for  Munich  (vol.  iv).  A  good  selection 
has  been  made  and  translated  by  Burlingame,  Art  Life  and  Theories 
of  Richard  Wagner. 

Great  care  should  be  exercised  in  the  selection  of  Wagner 
reading.  The  literature  is  very  voluminous,  and  much  of  it  is 
superficial  and  second-hand.  No  better  beginning  could  be  made 
than  with  Lavignac,  The  Music  Dramas  of  Richard  Wagner. 
Among  the  more  concentrated  discussions,  especially  to  be  recom- 
mended, are  Henderson,  Richard  Wagner,  his  Life  and  Dramas; 
Krehbiel,  Studies  in  the  Wagnerian  Drama;  Henderson,  Preludes 
and  Studies;  Grove's  Dictionary,  article  Wagner;  Famous  Compos- 
ers and  their  Works,  series  i,  article  Wagner;  Hadow,  Studies  in 
Modern  Music,  vol.  i;  Parry,  The  Evolution  of  the  Art  of  Music.  For 
disparaging  criticism  of  "Parsifal,"  Huneker,  Overtones,  and  Hen- 
derson, Modern  Musical  Drift.  Among  the  larger  works,  Finck, 
Wagner  and  his  Works ;  Glasenapp-Ellis,  Life  of  Richard  Wagner ; 
Newman,  A  Study  of  Wagner.  For  Wagner's  orchestration, 
Henderson,  The  Orchestra  and  Orchestral  Music.  For  Wagner's 
scenery,  see  an  excellent  illustrated  article  by  Apthorp  in  Scribner's 
Magazine,  November,  1887.  Also  Burlingame,  Art  Life  and  Theo- 
ries of  Richard  Wagner  :  The  Opera-house  at  Bayreuth.  The  biog- 
raphies also  contain  descriptions. 

Hostile  criticism  of  Wagner's  theories  and  style :  Gurney,  The 
Power  of  Sound,  chap.  22;  Statham,  My  Thoughts  on  Music  and 
Musicians  :  Richard  Wagner.  The  most  violent  attack  is  by  Nordau 
in  Degeneration.  Nietzsche's  famous  diatribe,  The  Case  of  Wagner, 
has  been  Englished.  A  very  lively  impression  of  the  bitterness 
of  the  conflict  over  Wagner's  works  at  their  first  appearance  can 
be  obtained  from  the  quotations  of  hostile  critics  given  by  Finck 
in  Wagner  and  his  Works.  The  student  should  be  familiar  with 
the  objections  to  Wagner's  method  that  have  been  raised. 

The  supreme  greatness  of  Wagner's  musical  genius  is 
now  almost  universally  recognized.  The  question  that 
remains  concerns  the  value  of  his  musical  style  and 
method  as  a  model  for  other  composers.  It  may  safely 
be  said  that  imitation  of  Wagner  can  only  lead  to  fail- 
ure.   His  genius  was  equal  to  his  problems,  but  no 


330    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


other  may  safely  wield  the  thunderbolts  of  Jove.  He 
has  not  formed  a  school ;  it  is  generally  felt  that  Wag- 
ner's was  a  mind  altogether  exceptional,  and  that  his 
theories  in  their  details,  as  he  carried  them  out,  are  not 
of  universal  validity.  Nevertheless  his  works,  both 
dramatic  and  literary,  are  an  inexhaustible  storehouse 
of  instruction  and  suggestion  to  composers,  whatever 
may  be  the  methods  and  tendencies  of  the  future. 
Speaking  in  the  broadest  sense,  Wagner's  conception  of 
the  mutual  relations  of  music,  poetry  and  action  will 
henceforth  remain  the  basis  of  the  opera. 


XXXIX 


DECENT  MUSIC  IN  GERMANY  AND  AUSTRIA 

The  most  conspicuous  German  composer,  next  to 
Wagner,  in  the  last  half  of  the  nineteenth  century,  is 
Johannes  Brahms  (1833-1897).  He  was  bom  at 
Hamburg,  made  a  public  appearance  as  pianist  at  the 
age  of  fourteen,  went  on  a  concert  tour  with  the  Hun- 
garian violinist,  Ramenyi,  in  1853,  when  his  compositions 
attracted  the  attention  of  Liszt  and  Schumann,  the  latter 
hailing  him  as  a  genius  in  the  now  famous  newspaper 
article  entitled  "New  Paths."  From  1854  to  1857  he 
was  director  of  music  at  the  princely  court  of  Detmold. 
Several  changes  of  residence  followed  until  finally  he 
made  Vienna  his  headquarters.  His  European  reputa- 
tion was  established  by  the  production  of  "  A  German 
Requiem  "  (1867).  He  lived  essentially  the  quiet  life  of 
a  scholarly  composer.  His  concert  tours  were  few.  As 
a  pianist  his  style  is  usually  described  as  hard  and  dry. 
His  compositions  cover  the  field  of  modern  practice  with 
the  exception  of  the  opera.  He  may  be  called  equally 
eminent  in  all  the  classes  —  symphony,  chamber,  choral, 
piano  and  song  composition  —  which  he  cultivated. 

The  first  fact  to  be  noted  in  the  case  of  Brahms  is 
that  he  stood  in  pronounced  opposition  to  the  ruling 
tendencies  of  the  time  as  represented  by  Wagner  and  the 
ultra-romanticists  in  orchestral  music.    He  wrote  no 


332    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


operas;  his  instrumental  works  are  without  titles  or 
poetic  suggestions.  Brahms,  therefore,  appeared  as  the 
champion  of  the  classic  idea  of  absolute  music  at  a  time 
when  the  opinion  of  a  large  section  of  the  musical  world 
was  running  strongly  in  the  opposite  direction.  Around 
Brahms  also,  as  well  as  around  Wagner,  a  critical  con- 
flict has  raged,  and  aesthetic  theories  and  prejudices 
have  interfered  with  the  calm  estimate  of  his  work.  It 
is  apparent,  therefore,  that  he  must  be  judged  in  accord- 
ance with  the  tests  that  apply  to  the  particular  order  of 
music  which  he  deliberately  chose. 

Brahms  may  be  called  a  reflective  rather  than  a  naive 
or  spontaneous  composer.  He  was  not  prolific ;  his 
works  are  wrought  with  the  greatest  care,  and  elab- 
orated with  a  profound  knowledge  of  musical  science. 
The  gravity  and  complexity  of  his  music  have  always 
stood  in  the  way  of  what  is  called  popularity.  After  his 
Op.  10  his  style  did  not  materially  change.  The  Op.  10, 
u  set  of  ballads  for  the  piano,  is  the  only  work  in  which 
he  showed  any  inclination  to  follow  the  poetic  or  pro- 
gramme school.  He  remained  ever  after  a  disciple  of  the 
classic  masters  in  form  and  technic.  He  has  been  called 
an  imitator  of  Schumann  in  general  mould  and  structure, 
but  the  resemblances  between  the  two  men  are  superficial. 

Brahms  rarely  sought  for  elegance,  delicacy  or  spright- 
liness ;  the  bright  and  taking  tunefulness,  which  we  find 
in  the  South  German  masters,  and  even  in  Schumann, 
is  exceptional  in  Brahms.  His  style  is  sonorous,  broad, 
sometimes  gloomy  and  hollow,  at  others  vehement  and 
splendid,  generally  very  intricate  in  harmony  and 
rhythm,  sometimes  dull  and  unattractive,  always  ingen- 


RECENT  MUSIC  IN  GERMANY  AND  AUSTRIA  333 


ious,  if  not  always  persuasive.  That  he  was  a  consum- 
mate master  of  form  no  one  disputes,  neither  is  his 
original  inventive  power  denied.  The  discussion  turns 
upon  the  beauty  and  the  emotional  appeal  of  his  ideas. 
To  some  he  is  utterly  unsympathetic.  The  love  of  his 
music  is  a  matter  of  temperament,  and  it  is  probable, 
therefore,  that  Brahmsites  and  an ti-Brahm sites  will  al- 
ways live  to  misunderstand  and  flout  each  other. 

Brahms'  piano  works  do  not  figure  largely  in  recital 
programmes,  but  they  are  full  of  interesting  matter  for  the 
student.  Their  difficulties  are  perhaps  in  excess  of  their 
"  taking  "  properties.  Their  number  is  not  large.  They 
range  in  dimensions  from  the  short  caprices,  fantasies 
and  intermezzos  to  the  sets  of  variations,  sonatas  and 
concertos.  In  concerted  chamber  works  the  piano  is 
prominent.  The  very  popular  Hungarian  dances  for 
piano,  four  hands,  are  constructed  on  native  Hungarian 
tunes.  The  comparison  between  these  pieces  and  Liszt's 
Hungarian  rhapsodies  is  interesting.  Brahms  had  always 
a  strong  fondness  for  dance  music,  due  probably  to  his 
highly  pronounced  sense  of  rhythm.  The  same  side  of 
his  nature  is  seen  in  the  beautiful  "  Liebeslieder  "  waltzes 
for  four  voices  and  piano  four  hands. 

Brahms'  piano  style  is  usually  the  free  polyphonic, 
more  open  than  Schumann's.  He  continues  the  tend- 
ency in  piano  music  to  the  development  of  the  left 
hand.  His  rhythm  is  often  very  complex  and  difficult 
to  solve.  He  has  an  inveterate  fondness  for  syncopa- 
tions, cross  rhythms  and  sudden  metrical  changes.  His 
tone  effects  are  massive,  often  lacking  resonance.  He 
loves  combinations  of  octaves  and  thirds  and  octaves 


334     THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


and  fifths,  carrying  thick  harmonies  far  down  into  the 
bass,  producing  gloomy  and  drab  effects  of  color.  The 
extraordinary  spread  of  his  harmonies  and  daring  skips, 
combined  with  his  polyphonic  intricacy,  makes  his  piano 
works  very  difficult  to  play.  In  musical  merit  they  do 
not  greatly  differ.  His  Handel  and  Paganini  variations 
are  frequently  played  by  performers  of  the  highest  rank, 
for  their  immense  difficulties  are  of  a  very  effective  kind. 

Brahms  cultivated  the  song  with  an  unflagging  affec- 
tion. His  solo  songs  with  piano  accompaniment  number 
about  two  hundred,  sixty  or  more  of  which  are  in  folk- 
song style.  To  some  critics  his  songs  are  of  the  first 
order,  others  disparage  them.  He  follows  the  method  of 
Schumann  in  giving  about  equal  importance  to  voice 
and  piano  part.  That  he  is  not  one  of  the  great  melo- 
dists is  apparent ;  although  many  of  his  songs  possess 
melodies  of  haunting  beauty.  The  accompaniment  is 
very  rich.  The  sentiment  of  the  verse  is  always  deeply 
felt  and  the  writer's  literary  taste  in  selection  of  poems 
is  unimpeachable.  Simplicity  and  daintiness  that  seem 
hardly  characteristic  are  often  found  (e.  g.  the  beloved 
"  Wiegenlied  ").  He  does  not  reach  the  depth  of  pathos 
which  Schubert  often  sounded ;  he  gives  an  inspiring 
portrayal  of  the  joy  of  life  in  a  style  always  dignified 
and  noble. 

Brahms' most  famous  work  is  "Ein  deutsches  Requiem" 
for  chorus  and  orchestra.  It  is  not  a  requiem  mass ;  it 
is  rather  a  cantata,  the  words,  chosen  from  the  Bible  and 
forming  a  sort  of  funeral  ode,  setting  forth  the  brevity 
of  life  and  the  hope  of  immortality.  It  is  a  work  of  the 
most  solemn  and  imposing  character,  containing  Brahms' 


RECENT  MUSIC  IN  GERMANY  AND  AUSTRIA  335 


most  attractive  qualities  as  well  as  those  most  frequently 
attacked.  The  second  number  is  perhaps  the  most  orig- 
inal and  impressive  part  of  the  work. 

Other  choral  compositions  that  have  found  favor 
with  singing  societies  are  the  "  Schicksalslied,"  the 
"  Triumphlied "  (written  to  celebrate  the  victory  of 
Germany  over  France  in  1870-71)  and  "Nanie."  Other 
choral  works  are  motets,  songs  for  male,  female  and 
mixed  choruses,  etc. 

A  strong  series  of  chamber  works  —  including  string 
quartets,  piano  trios,  quartets  and  quintets,  clarinet 
quintet,  etc.  —  leads  up  to  his  four  symphonies,  which 
may  be  considered  in  many  respects  the  crown  of  his 
career.  They  have  no  titles ;  they  are  based  on  the 
Beethoven  style,  as  found  in  the  fifth  and  seventh  sym- 
phonies. The  only  change  in  form  is  the  substitution  of 
a  quiet  allegretto  for  the  scherzo  in  the  first  and  third 
symphonies.  The  third  movement  of  the  second  sym- 
phony may  be  called  a  modernized  minuet;  the  third 
movement  of  the  fourth  is  an  allegro  in  two-four  time. 
Each  symphony  has  its  individuality;  the  second  is 
lighter,  more  tuneful  and  vivacious  than  the  others,  and 
is  evidently  the  most  popular.  In  the  fourth  the  com- 
poser's learning  is  more  consciously  displayed ;  the  work 
as  a  whole  has  not  held  so  permanent  an  interest  as  the 
others.  His  mastery  of  the  larger  forms  and  of  thematic 
development  on  classic  principles  is  convincingly  shown 
in  these  symphonies.  His  harmony,  for  example,  in  such 
movements  as  the  second  of  the  second  symphony,  has 
almost  the  weight  of  Bach.  His  orchestration  lacks  the 
brightness  and  glow  of  the  modern  school ;  there  is  often 


336    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 

a  thickness,  even  muddiness.  Of  his  profound  knowledge 
of  orchestration  there  is  no  question ;  he  is  a  master  in 
his  own  vein,  but  he  cares  less  than  the  later  writers  in 
general  for  sensuous  beauty  of  tone  color  as  an  end  in 
itself. 

Brahms  has  already  a  place  in  solid  critical  discussion.  Friendly 
and  highly  competent  studies  may  be  found  in  Mason,  From  Grieg 
to  Brahms ;  Hadow,  Studies  in  Modern  Music ;  Studies  in  Music, 
ed.  by  Gray  (essay  by  Spitta)  ;  Famous  Composers  and  their  Works, 
series  i.  See  also  Deiters,  Johannes  Brahms  ;  Maitland,  Masters  of 
German  Music.  There  is  a  very  intelligent,  on  the  whole  unfa- 
vorable, criticism  by  Weingartner,  The  Symphony  since  Beethoven.1 
There  is  a  thorough  and  able  analysis  of  Brahms'  piano  music  by 
Huneker,  in  Mezzotints  in  Modern  Music :  The  Music  of  the  Future. 

No  other  recent  German  composer  looms  so  promi- 
nently as  Brahms  until  we  reach  Richard  Strauss. 
Especially  conspicuous  are  Max  Bruch  and  Josef  Rhein- 
berger.  They  have  not  pushed  out  into  new  paths,  but 
have  done  work  that  has  given  them  honor  in  all  coun- 
tries. Max  Brtjch  (1838-  ),  born  at  Cologne,  was 
very  precocious  as  a  composer.  He  is  romantic  in 
temperament,  but  in  education  an  offshoot  of  the  con- 
servative Leipzig  school.  Although  he  has  written 
music  in  every  modern  form,  he  is  best  known  to  the 
world  by  his  cantatas  for  solos,  chorus  and  orchestra, 
and  his  compositions  for  the  violin.  He  is  dear  to  pro- 
moters of  musical  festivals,  for  his  cantatas,  without 
being  of  the  highest  grade  of  difficulty,  are  solid  in 
musicianship,  very  melodious,  richly  orchestrated  and 
attractive  in  poetic  subject  and  treatment.  The  list  of 
cantatas  includes  "  Odysseus "  (probably  the  finest), 

1  Weingartner  has  since  modified  this  judgment. 


RECENT  MUSIC  IN  GERMANY  AND  AUSTRIA  337 


"  Achilleus,"  "  Frithjof,"  "  Arminius,"  "  Schon  Ellen  " 
and  "  Das  Lied  der  Glocke  "  (Schiller). 

Bruch's  violin  concerto  in  G  minor,  Op.  26,  shares 
the  favor  of  the  concertos  of  Beethoven  and  Mendels- 
sohn, and  is  not  unworthy  of  the  comparison.  Hardly 
less  if  at  all  inferior  are  the  two  concertos  in  D  minor, 
Op.  4-4  and  58,  the  romance,  Op.  42,  and  the  "  Scotch 
fantasie,"  Op.  46.  There  is  a  notable  fantasie  on  Jewish 
melodies,  "  Kol  Nidrei,"  for  'cello  and  orchestra.  Bruch 
has  consummate  knowledge  of  the  nature  of  the  violin, 
and  his  works  for  this  instrument  have  a  breadth  and 
sweep  of  melody,  a  vigor  of  rhythm,  and  a  passionate 
fire  which  make  them  the  delight  of  violin  players  and 
violin  lovers. 

Josef  Rheinberger  (1838-1902)  was  one  of  the 
most  solid  musicians  of  his  time,  highly  esteemed  by 
musical  scholars,  eminent  as  a  teacher  of  composition,  as 
well  as  composer.  His  home  during  the  greater  part  of 
his  career  was  Munich.  Brought  up  in  the  traditions 
of  the  classic  school,  he  did  not  keep  himself  aloof  from 
the  romantic  currents  of  the  time,  showing  his  romanti- 
cism not  only  in  ballads  and  cantatas,  but  also  in  orches- 
tral works  with  titles.  The  most  important  of  the 
latter  is  the  symphony  "  Wallenstein,"  founded  on 
Schiller's  tragedy.  Rheinberger  is  distinguished  as  a 
composer  for  the  Catholic  church  and  especially  as 
a  writer  for  the  organ.  He  has  written  thirteen  masses, 
besides  motets  and  hymns,  all  of  which  have  the  true 
ecclesiastical  reserve  without  pedantic  dryness.  His 
numerous  organ  compositions — sonatas,  concertos,  etc. 
—  which  contain  a  wealth  of  ideas  perfectly  suited  to  the 

22 


338    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


nature  of  the  instrument,  are  developed  with  masterly 
musicianship,  based  on  the  best  German  traditions  of 
organ  music  and  yet  not  disdaining  the  new  discoveries 
in  technic  and  style.  His  music  in  all  departments  is 
of  expert  workmanship,  yet  full  of  individual  character. 

The  Austrian  Anton  Bruckner  (1824-1896)  as- 
sumed to  carry  the  Wagnerian  style  and  the  Wagnerian 
orchestration  into  symphony  and  church  composition, 
producing  works  imposing  in  dimensions,  highly  elabo- 
rated in  harmony  and  counterpoint,  but  whose  pretension 
is  far  in  excess  of  their  sheer  musical  value.  At  one 
time  held  up  by  a  Vienna  coterie  as  a  rival  of  Brahms, 
his  vogue  has  declined.  He  wrote  eight  symphonies  (a 
ninth  being  left  unfinished),  three  masses,  a  Te  Deum 
and  the  One  Hundred  and  Fiftieth  Psalm  for  solos, 
chorus  and  orchestra  and  many  smaller  church  works. 

Joseph  Joachim  Raff  (1822-1882),  a  composer 
gifted  with  a  very  prolific  invention,  was  at  one  time 
in  great  favor  with  the  public,  but  in  spite  of  many 
excellent  qualities,  his  charm  has  not  proved  to  be 
solidly  based,  and  his  works  are  falling  into  neglect. 
Partly  on  account  of  a  fatal  gift  of  fluency,  still  more 
perhaps  on  account  of  poverty,  he  published  a  large 
amount  of  ephemeral  salon  music,  the  influence  of  which 
can  be  seen  even  in  his  more  serious  compositions. 
He  is  most  favorably  known  by  one  or  two  symphonies 
of  the  programme  school,  in  which  he  shows  himself  a 
disciple  of  Liszt,  whose  friend  and  secretary  he  was  at 
Weimar.  The  most  esteemed  of  these  symphonies  are 
the  "  Leonore "  (based  on  Burger's  famous  ballad)  and 
the  "  Im  Walde  "  symphony. 


RECENT  MUSIC  IN  GERMANY  AND  AUSTRIA  339 


The  central  figure  in  musical  Germany  to-day  is 
Richard  Strauss  (1864-  ),  whose  huge  and  in  every 
way  extraordinary  orchestral  works  have  set  the  art 
world  agog  with  wonder,  and  precipitated  a  critical 
controversy  but  little  less  violent  than  the  Wagner 
war.  Although  he  is  the  man  who  has  driven  the  pro- 
gramme method  to  its  furthest  consequences,  he  began 
his  life  as  composer  with  sober  pieces  for  orchestra  and 
chamber  instruments  which  were  without  titles  and 
loyal  to  the  classic  traditions.  Going  to  Meiningen  as 
orchestral  conductor  in  1885,  he  became  converted  to 
the  principles  of  representative  orchestral  music,  which 
he  has  followed  ever  since.  He  has  written  a  successful 
opera,  "  Guntram,"  a  violin  concerto,  a  violin  sonata, 
piano  pieces  and  a  large  number  of  very  characteristic 
and  deeply  expressive  songs.  The  works  that  have 
given  him  his  unique  position  in  the  world's  regard  are 
his  symphonic  poems,  "Macbeth  "  (1887),  "Don  Juan  " 
(1888),  "Tod  und  Verklarung  "  (1889),  "Also  sprach 
Zarathustra"  (1895),  "Till  Eulenspiegel's  lustige 
Streiche"  (1895),  "Don  Quixote"  (1898),  "Ein  Helden- 
leben"  (1899)  and  the  " Symphonia  Domestica"  (1904). 
"  Don  Juan  "  is  a  musical  paraphrase  of  Lenau's  poem 
of  that  title.  "  Tod  und  Verklarung  "  is  a  portrayal  of 
the  last  moments  of  a  departing  soul,  as  it  reviews  the 
struggles,  victories  and  defeats  of  its  past  life.  "  Also 
sprach  Zarathustra"  is  a  musical  paraphrase  of  Nietzsche's 
philosophic  rhapsody  of  that  title.  "  I  did  not  intend  to 
write  philosophic  music,"  says  Mr.  Strauss,  "nor  to  por- 
tray Nietzsche's  great  work  musically.  I  meant  to  convey 
musically  an  idea  of  the  development  of  the  human  race 


340    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


from  its  origin  through  the  various  phases  of  development 
(religious  as  well  as  scientific)  up  to  Nietzsche's  idea  of 
the  Uebermensch,  the  Beyond-Man  of  Goethe  "  (quoted 
by  Henderson  in  Modern  Musical  Drift).  The  exploits 
and  fate  of  the  old  German  popular  hero,  Till  Eulen- 
spiegel  —  knave,  libertine  and  merry  good  fellow  —  are 
displayed  with  fantastic  realism  in  u  Till  Eulenspiegel's 
lustige  Streiche."  "  Don  Quixote  "  is  a  musical  sum- 
mary, in  the  guise  of  theme  and  variations,  of  the  crack- 
brained  ambitions  and  fantastic  adventures  of  Cervantes' 
hero,  with  his  squire  Sancho  Panza.  There  is  the 
battle  with  the  windmills,  dialogues  of  knight  and 
squire,  the  meeting  with  Dulcinea,  the  conflict  with 
the  two  magicians,  the  combat  with  the  Knight  of 
the  Silver  Moon,  etc.  "  Ein  Heldenleben,"  the  most 
grandiose  of  Strauss'  works,  is  in  six  parts,  representing 
the  Hero,  the  Hero's  Antagonists,  the  Hero's  Consort, 
the  Hero's  Battlefield,  the  Hero's  Work  of  Peace,  the 
Hero's  Retirement  from  Worldly  Life  and  Strife  and 
Ultimate  Perfection.  The  cacophonous  fury  of  the 
fourth  part  seems  to  have  frightened  the  critics  into 
a  dazed  condition.  Strauss  shrinks  from  no  conse- 
quences of  his  theory ;  he  is  as  consistent  in  his  descrip- 
tion of  the  noises  of  a  flock  of  sheep  in  "  Don  Quixote," 
the  death  rattle  in  "  Tod  und  Verklarung "  and  the 
deafening  tumult  of  a  battlefield  in  "  Ein  Heldenleben  " 
as  he  is  in  the  idealization  of  the  aspirations  and  vic- 
tories of  the  soul  in  "Also  sprach  Zarathustra"  and 
"  Tod  und  Verklarung."  His  works  are  condensed  and 
detailed  dramas,  novels,  philosophic  schemes  without 
words  or  action.    From  the  grovelling  and  ugly  to  the 


RECENT  MUSIC  IN  GERMANY  AND  AUSTRIA  341 


serene  and  sublime,  from  wit  and  irony  to  passion  and 
beatific  vision,  Strauss  ranges  with  boldest  literalism 
and  consuming  ardor.  Whatever  may  be  said  of  the 
truth  or  falsehood  of  his  method  and  his  powers  of 
abstract  melodic  invention,  no  other  composer  has  made 
the  instruments,  both  singly  and  in  combination,  more 
pliant  to  his  will,  or  handled  the  free  modern  counter- 
point with  more  amazing  results.  The  symphonic 
poems  of  Strauss  seem  to  force  all  the  powers  of  modern 
musical  symbolism  to  their  utmost  limit.  So  precise 
and  realistic  are  Strauss'  effects,  particularly  in  the 
delineation  of  the  grotesque  and  humorous  and  even 
the  ugly,  so  audacious  is  he  in  his  treatment  of  form, 
so  prodigiously  clever  in  contrapuntal  manipulation, 
that  some  enthusiastic  admirers  proclaim  him  the  creator 
of  a  new  art,  the  man  who  is  to  succeed  Wagner  in 
leading  music  into  new  regions  of  expression.  Others 
see  in  him  only  a  consummate  technician  with  no  really 
new  ideas  to  give  to  the  world,  asserting  that  his  de- 
fiance of  order  and  moderation,  his  vast  complexity 
without  true  musical  imagination,  will  only  ensure 
reaction  toward  simplicity.  "  His  master-works  are 
architectural  marvels.  In  structure,  in  rhythmical  com- 
plexity, in  striking  harmonies,  ugly,  bold,  dissonantal, 
his  symphonic  poems  are  without  parallel.  This  learn- 
ing, this  titanic  brush-work  on  vast  and  sombre  can- 
vases, are  never  for  music's  sake :  indeed  one  may  ask 
if  it  is  really  music  and  not  a  new  hybrid  art.  It  is 
always  intended  to  mean  something,  say  something, 
paint  someone's  soul ;  it  is  a  half -mad  attempt  to  make 
music  articulate.    Whatever  else  he  has  done  Strauss 


342    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


has  unquestionably  enlarged  the  territory  of  instru- 
mental music,  and  dowered  with  new  and  amazing 
eloquence  the  vast  orchestral  host.  But  tonality,  stereo- 
typed forms,  thematic  utterance,  rhythmic  life  itself,  are 
all  thrown  at  us  in  a  kaleidoscopic  whirl "  (J.  G.  Hune- 
ker  in  Famous  Composers  and  their  Works,  series  ii). 

"  Richard  Strauss,  standing  upon  the  vantage  ground 
made  for  him  by  Berlioz,  Liszt  and  Wagner,  has  evi- 
dently tried  to  carry  the  direct  expression  of  the  orches- 
tra to  a  higher  plane  by  utilizing  the  best  elements  of 
their  work.  He  has  sought  to  make  the  orchestra  tell 
stories,  but  he  has  not  made  the  error  of  supposing  that 
he  could  ignore  the  fundamental  principles  of  musical 
form  which  constituted  the  ground  plan  of  the  old  sym- 
phony. He  has  utilized  themes  with  definite  meanings 
attached  to  them,  as  Wagner  did,  without  confining 
himself  to  two,  as  the  older  writers  did,  and  as  Liszt  did 
in  most  of  his  works.  He  has  returned  in  his  later 
compositions  to  the  fashion  of  clearly  separated  move- 
ments, while  he  has  made  them  pass  before  the  hearer 
without  pauses  between  any  two  of  them.  He  has  de- 
veloped his  themes  according  to  the  principles  laid  down 
by  the  symphonic  masters,  and  has  striven  to  enforce 
their  meaning  with  all  the  effects  of  orchestral  color. 
And  withal  he  has  endeavored  to  compose  only  music 
with  a  purpose,  never  music  for  its  own  sake.  In  short, 
Strauss  has  shown  that  the  principles  of  musical  form 
which  the  earlier  writers  painfully  evolved  out  of  their 
attempts  to  produce  nothing  beyond  musical  beauty, 
not  only  can  be,  but  must  be,  utilized  by  the  composer 
who  cares  nothing  whatever  about  musical  beauty,  and 


RECENT  MUSIC  IN  GERMANY  AND  AUSTRIA  343 


who  aims  only  at  making  music  a  means  of  expression  " 
(W.  J.  Henderson,  Modern  Musical  Drift:  Richard 
Strauss). 

These  principles,  asserted  by  Strauss  in  his  sym- 
phonic poems,  are  a  plump  denial  of  the  position,  as- 
sumed as  self-evident  by  the  older  aesthetics,  that  music 
by  itself  alone  has  no  power  of  definite  portrayal,  but 
at  the  most  can  only  symbolize  the  fundamental  soul 
states,  general  moods  such  as  joy,  grief,  hope,  triumph, 
dejection,  etc.,  never  the  events  that  produce  them  or  the 
conditions,  external  or  internal,  by  which  they  are  in- 
duced. The  whole  history  of  instrumental  music  in 
the  last  three-quarters  of  the  nineteenth  century  is  a 
protest  against  the  finality  of  this  position,  and  the  music 
of  Strauss  is  the  last  word  of  this  protest.  If  his  com- 
positions are  finally  accepted  as  the  expression  of  an 
ideal  that  is  eternally  valid,  then,  as  the  disciples  of 
Strauss  maintain,  a  new  field  for  musical  art  is  open, 
and  the  problems  and  tendencies  of  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury once  for  all  proclaimed. 

Controversial  literature  upon  Richard  Strauss  has  begun  to 
accumulate.  Very  able  and  enlightening  contributions  to  the 
discussion  may  be  found  in  Ernest  Newman's  article  in  the  Fort- 
nightly Review,  January,  1903;  Huneker,  Overtones,  A  Book  of 
Temperaments ;  and  Henderson,  Modern  Musical  Drift.  The  two 
books  last  mentioned  are  of  high  value,  and  should  be  read  by  all 
who  wish  to  understand  the  meaning  of  the  most  pronounced 
musical  tendencies  of  the  present  day.  A  conservative  opinion  on 
Strauss  is  that  of  the  celebrated  conductor,  Felix  Weingartner,  in 
The  Symphony  since  Beethoven.  The  brilliant  article  by  Huneker 
in  Famous  Composers  and  their  Works,  series  ii,  should  also  be  read. 
A  biography  of  Strauss  and  condensed  descriptions  of  his  chief 
works  are  given  by  Huneker  in  Overtones.     Mr.  Henderson  in 


344    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 

Modern  Musical  Drift,  chapter  on  Strauss,  gives  a  terse  history  of 
the  orchestra  from  Monte verde  to  Strauss.  A  skilful  analysis  of 
Strauss'  work  as  a  song  writer  may  also  be  found  in  the  above 
article  by  Henderson. 

Germany  has  not  been  lacking  in  opera  composers 
since  Wagner,  some  of  them  following  his  lead,  some 
the  old  methods,  but  no  one  has  been  able,  even  tem- 
porarily, to  distract  attention  from  the  great  reformer 
of  the  lyric  drama.  Hermann  Goetz  (1840-1876) 
showed  great  talent  in  his  brilliant  and  thoroughly 
individual  opera,  "Der  Widerspenstigen  Zalimung" 
( Shakspeare's  "Taming  of  the  Shrew"),  1874.  This 
work  is  quite  independent  of  Wagner,  and  is  one  of  the 
best  comic  operas  of  recent  times. 

Karl  Goldmark  (1830-  )  made  himself  famous 
in  1875  by  his  "  Die  Kdnigin  von  Saba,"  based  on  an 
imaginary  tale  of  love  and  adventure,  Solomon  and  the 
queen  of  Sheba  being  among  the  principal  characters. 
The  style  and  cast  of  this  work  show  affiliation  with 
Meyerbeer  and  Verdi  in  "  Aida."  "  Merlin  "  (1886),  less 
successful,  shows  more  traces  of  the  Wagner  influence. 
Goldmark  has  also  written  symphonies  and  symphonic 
poems,  among  which  the  symphony  "  Landliche  Hoch- 
zeit"  has  gained  great  favor  in  Germany.  Goldmark 
belongs  to  the  romantic  school,  has  an  abundant  gift  of 
tuneful  melody  and  is  clever  in  the  invention  of  pi- 
quant orchestral  effects,  but  lacks  depth  and  passion. 

Among  the  younger  Wagnerians  the  greatest  stage 
success  has  been  achieved  by  Engelbert  Humper- 
dinck  (1854-  ),  with  his  charming  fairy  opera  "  Hansel 
und  Gretel,"  which  portrays  the  adventures  of  a  couple 


RECENT  MUSIC  IN  GERMANY  AND  AUSTRIA  315 


of  children  with  a  wicked  witch  and  the  destruction 
of  the  latter.  Humperdinck  has  shown  great  skill 
in  the  musical  setting  of  this  story,  combining  racy 
humor  with  romantic  coloring.  This  admirable  work, 
produced  in  1893,  has  had  international  success,  for 
Humperdinck  has  the  art  so  to  combine  children's  and 
fairy  songs  with  complete  technical  musicianship  in 
counterpoint  and  orchestration  as  to  steer  clear  of  trivi- 
ality on  the  one  side  and  heaviness  on  the  other.  A 
fine  vein  of  humor  also  lends  to  his  work  a  unique 
attraction. 

A  trail  of  Wagner  is  more  or  less  distinct  over  a 
large  number  of  the  more  recent  German  operas.  In 
some  it  appears  only  in  technical  details,  in  others  there 
is  an  obvious  imitation  in  subjects  (old  German  and 
Norse  myth  and  hero  lore)  and  abstruse  philosophic 
symbolism.  But  it  is  evident  that  if  the  public  wishes 
these  things  it  will  go  to  the  great  original  himself, 
for  he  alone  has  shown  the  ability  to  deal  with  them  in 
a  convincing  manner.  Work  such  as  that  of  August 
Bungert  (1846-  ),  who  has  planned  and  partly  finished 
a  huge  work  in  six  parts  on  subjects  drawn  from  the 
Iliad  and  Odyssey,  for  which  he  wishes  to  found  a 
special  festival  house  d  la  Bayreuth,  excites  little  inter- 
est. Even  brilliant  and  well-constructed  operas,  such 
as  Richard  Strauss'  "  Guntram,"  Klughardt's  "  Gudrun  " 
and  Schilling's  "Ingwelde,"  are  paled  by  the  shadow 
of  the  gigantic  structure  under  which  they  stand.  There 
is  great  activity  in  opera  composition  at  the  present 
day  in  Germany,  but  a  new  and  promising  vein  has  not 
been  opened. 


346    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


The  same  may  be  said  of  recent  German  work  in  sym- 
phony, chamber  music,  cantata,  piano  music,  song,  etc. 
There  has  been  an  abundance  of  brilliant  composi- 
tion in  which  figure  such  honored  names  as  Kirchner, 
Reinecke,  Bargiel,  Herzogenburg,  Hofmann,  Draeseke, 
Nicode\  Hausegger,  Mahler  and  many  more,  but  noth- 
ing that  shows  signs  of  leading  the  art  into  new  paths, 
—  always  excepting,  of  course,  the  work  of  Richard 
Strauss. 

Critical  writing  on  the  post- Wagner  German  school  is  not 
abundant  in  English.  Famous  Composers  and  their  Works,  series  i, 
and  Grove's  Dictionary  are  trustworthy  sources  of  information. 
J.  A.  Fuller  Maitland  has  written  a  readable  book  on  Masters  of 
German  Music  in  the  series  Masters  of  Contemporary  Music.  The 
very  latest  German  work  is  well  described  in  Arthur  Elson's 
Modern  Composers  of  Europe. 


XL 


RECENT  MUSIC  IN  FRANCE 

No  other  country  at  the  present  day  shows  greater 
musical  activity  or  a  more  interesting  group  of  com- 
posers than  France.  Although  France  is  one  of  the 
oldest  musical  nations,  modern  harmonized  music  hav- 
ing apparently  had  its  cradle  in  Paris,  she  has  been  out- 
stripped by  her  neighbors  in  productive  genius,  and 
even  the  styles  that  may  be  called  French  have  been  to 
a  large  extent  fostered  by  foreigners.  But  the  music 
produced  on  French  soil  has  always  had  a  decidedly 
national  flavor,  its  vitality  has  never  been  exhausted 
and  in  no  country  at  the  present  day  is  musical  energy 
more  active,  ambitious  and  individual.  It  is  only  in 
comparatively  recent  times  that  France  may  be  said  to 
have  "  found  herself "  musically.  French  composers 
have  usually  shown  a  certain  lack  of  self-reliance. 
Their  work  has  not  been  sufficiently  spontaneous ;  it  has 
been  self-conscious,  intellectual  in  the  sense  that  it  is 
guided  too  much  by  theories  and  traditions,  academic 
rather  than  free,  and  so  this  timidity  and  reflectiveness 
have  been  the  cause  of  much  subjection  to  foreign  influ- 
ences. The  latest  of  these  is  the  hypnotizing  spell  of 
Wagner,  but  now  independence  and  nationalism  in 
music  is  the  cry,  and  there  is  a  new  and  hopeful  ferment 
among  the  younger  coteries.    No  musicians  of  the  pres- 


348    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


ent  day  are  more  thoroughly  trained  in  their  craft,  —  the 
strict  discipline  and  the  stern  traditions  of  the  all- 
powerful  Paris  Conservatoire  are  chiefly  responsible  for 
that;  and  with  the  multiplication  of  brilliant  talents 
and  governmental  and  social  encouragement  results  of 
importance  may  be  expected. 

A  striking  fact  in  the  musical  history  of  France  in 
the  last  half-century  is  the  broadening  of  the  range  of 
composition.  Down  to  about  1870  secular  music  of 
importance,  with  the  exception  of  the  works  of  Berlioz, 
was  almost  entirely  opera.  Religious  music,  abundant  in 
quantity,  had  only  one  or  two  productions  of  marked 
importance  to  show.  But  during  the  past  twenty-five 
or  thirty  years  France  has  produced  a  remarkable  num- 
ber of  composers  who  have  distinguished  themselves  in 
instrumental  composition,  especially  orchestral.  The 
concert  orchestras  of  Paris  are  among  the  finest  in  the 
world,  and  the  splendid  concert  system  of  the  city  has 
brought  instrumental  music  to  the  front  in  popular 
regard.  Whereas  formerly  a  composer  enjoyed  no  es- 
teem until  he  had  written  a  successful  opera,  the  fact 
now  is  that  artists  in  many  cases  gain  notice  through 
concert  music,  and  are  no  longer  unknown  when  they 
make  their  debut  upon  the  stage.  This  condition  of 
affairs  is  highly  favorable  to  operatic  music  itself,  for 
the  whole  tendency  of  modern  music  demands  that  a 
dramatic  composer  shall  be  a  past  master  of  musical 
science,  including  the  art  of  orchestration.  This  re- 
quirement leads  composers  into  study  of  the  most 
serious  and  exhaustive  character,  and  all  the  forms  of 
composition  profit  by  it  and  inspire  each  other. 


RECENT  MUSIC  IN  FRANCE 


349 


Not  less  notable  is  the  attention  given  by  the  new- 
school  of  French  composers  to  chorus  writing  in  oratorio, 
cantata  and  church  music.  The  choral  productions  of 
such  men  as  Gounod,  Dubois,  Franck  and  Tinel  are 
well  in  line  with  the  best  German  work  of  the  same 
period.  The  French  school  of  organ  playing  and 
composition  now  leads  the  world  (Guilmant,  Widor, 
Franck,  Dubois,  Gigout  and  others).  It  is  based  on  a 
profound  study  of  Sebastian  Bach,  and  is  shaped  and 
colored  under  the  influence  of  the  splendor  of  Catholic 
liturgical  art  and  the  French  love  of  rhythm,  color 
and  dramatic  contrast. 

The  first  public  concerts  (the  orchestral  concerts  in 
the  Conservatoire  were  open  only  to  students  and  musi- 
cians), in  which  the  symphonies  of  Mozart  and  Bee- 
thoven could  be  heard,  were  instituted  in  1839.  Still 
more  important,  because  reaching  a  greater  number, 
were  the  "  popular  concerts  "  of  Pasdeloup  (1861).  The 
good  work  of  Pasdeloup  has  been  continued  to  the 
present  day  by  the  unsurpassed  orchestras  of  Colonne 
and  Lamoureux. 

Abstract  symphonies  in  classic  form  are  still  rare 
exceptions  in  French  music.  It  is  inevitable,  the  French 
mind  being  constituted  as  it  is,  that  the  demand  should 
be  for  representative  or  programme  music.  A  favorite 
form  is  the  orchestral  suite,  for  there  is  more  freedom 
admitted  in  it  than  in  the  orthodox  symphonic  form. 
Equally  cultivated  is  the  symphonic  poem.  Rhapsodies 
on  foreign  airs  are  much  beloved.  There  are  works  in 
the  form  of  symphonies  with  a  conspicuous  violin  part. 
Great  numbers  of  overtures  have  been  written,  based  on 


350    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


subjects  from  history,  poetry  and  fiction.  On  a  larger 
scale  works  have  followed  the  plan  of  Berlioz  in  the 
ode  symphony  or  dramatic  symphony,  —  a  mixed  form 
of  vocal  and  instrumental  pieces  alternating,  following 
the  scheme  of  some  well-known  play  and  emphasizing 
its  most  salient  features. 

In  all  this  we  see  the  natural  working  of  the  French 
mind.  It  is  disinclined  to  think  music  abstractly.  It 
demands  words,  a  subject,  a  programme,  a  definite  hint  of 
some  kind  to  stimulate  the  fancy  and  give  a  picturesque 
character  to  the  music.  Add  to  this  the  disposition  to 
distrust  the  naive  instinctive  impulses  of  the  emotion, 
the  French  love  of  conformity  and  reliance  upon  demon- 
stration in  art,  the  too  great  consciousness  of  aesthetic 
theories  and  intellectual  problems  underlying  art  crea- 
tion, and  we  have  gone  a  long  way  to  explaining  the 
peculiar  phenomena  of  French  music  and  the  traits 
which  still  interfere  with  its  progress  towards  the  very 
highest  achievements. 

In  spite  of  the  significant  impulse  towards  orchestral 
and  choral  writing,  the  chief  place  in  French  music  is 
still  held  by  the  opera.  An  immense  number  of  works 
of  talent  have  seen  the  light  of  the  Paris  theatres,  rang- 
ing from  the  imposing  and  spectacular  grand  opera  to 
the  burlesque  operetta.  No  longer  is  France  dependent 
upon  foreigners  for  the  maintenance  of  her  operatic  dis- 
tinction ;  everything  is  the  work  of  native  Frenchmen. 
It  must  be  said  that  only  rarely,  as  in  the  case  of  Gou- 
nod's "  Faust "  and  Bizet's  "  Carmen,"  does  a  French 
opera  win  international  fame,  but  the  average  is  high. 
The  French  writers  hold  to  the  time-honored  principle 


RECENT  MUSIC  IN  FRANCE 


351 


of  French  opera  that  the  music  shall  be  poetically  true 
and  the  plot  and  scene  have  independent  dramatic 
value.  The  effort  is  to  depict  life  and  character  rather 
than  to  astonish  by  vocalism  or  spectacular  embellishment. 

Only  a  hasty  review  of  the  most  conspicuous  French 
composers  of  the  last  half-century  can  be  allowed  here. 
The  most  widely  known  of  all  is  Charles  Gounod 
(1818-1893).  Like  many  other  composers  he  has 
distinguished  himself  both  as  writer  for  the  theatre  and 
for  the  church,  the  union  of  the  mystical  and  the  sensu- 
ous in  his  temperament  producing  that  warm,  seductive, 
languishing  and  ecstatic  manner  which  is  peculiar  to 
him  and  is  felt  in  both  his  religious  and  his  secular 
music.  There  is  a  certain  softness  and  effeminacy  in 
this  style  which  is  hardly  in  keeping  with  the  highest 
demands  of  dramatic  music,  certainly  not  with  those  of 
church  music.  Gounod's  immense  popularity  is  due  to 
his  remarkable  gift  of  voluptuous  melody,  which  com- 
pletely captivates  at  the  first  hearing,  and  although  it 
may  cloy  at  last  and  never  sounds  the  lowest  depths  of 
passion,  at  its  best  it  is  sincere  and  forcible  and  bears 
the  marks  of  genuine  feeling.  Gounod's  masterpiece, 
the  opera  "Faust"  (1859),  may  without  much  risk  be 
called  the  most  popular  stage  work  of  modern  times. 
It  has  been  given  more  than  a  thousand  times  in  Paris, 
while  no  one  pretends  to  estimate  the  number  of  its  pro- 
ductions in  other  countries.  The  title  given  to  this 
work  in  Germany,  viz.  "  Marguerite,"  is  more  appropri- 
ate, for  it  is  in  fact  a  dramatization  of  one  episode  in 
Goethe's  poem.  The  soliloquy  of  Faust,  the  people's 
chorus,  the  meeting  of  Faust  and  Mephistopheles  and 


352    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


the  cellar  scene  are  a  mere  perfunctory  introduction  to 
the  real  subject.  Faust  is  little  more  than  the  tradi- 
tional stage  lover,  the  attempts  at  characterization  in 
the  case  of  the  mocking  fiend  are  feeble  and  he  is  simply 
a  vulgar  go-between  in  an  amorous  escapade.  The  love 
scenes  between  Faust  and  Marguerite  and  the  scenes  in 
the  church  and  the  prison  show  Gounod's  gifts  of 
melody  and  dramatic  expression  at  the  highest  point 
they  ever  reached.  Of  still  greater  moment  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  French  opera  is  the  musical  importance  given 
to  the  portions  intermediate  between  the  arias,  the  ac- 
companied recitative,  where  we  find  some  of  the  most 
characteristic  and  telling  music  in  the  work.  In  this  re- 
spect Gounod  strikes  hands  with  the  leaders  of  modern 
opera  who  insist  upon  continuity  of  musical  movement, 
and  a  conception  of  style  which  refuses  to  subordinate 
dramatic  progress  to  vocal  display  in  set  pieces. 

None  of  Gounod's  other  operas  rival  "  Faust."  The 
most  important  are  "Philemon  et  Baucis,"  "  La  Reine 
de  Saba,"  "  Mireille  "  and  "  Romdo  et  Juliette." 

Of  Gounod's  numerous  masses  and  hymns  the  "St. 
Cecilia  Mass "  (1855)  has  done  almost  as  much  as 
"Faust"  to  diffuse  the  Gounod  cult.  The  most  noted 
of  his  oratorios  are  "  The  Redemption  "  and  "  Mors  et 
Vita."  The  former  is  in  three  parts :  (1)  the  passion  of 
Christ,  which  includes  a  very  realistic  march  to  Calvary  ; 
(2)  Christ's  life  on  earth  between  his  resurrection  and 
ascension ;  (3)  the  diffusion  of  Christianity  by  the  apos- 
tles. This  work  is  uneven ;  there  are  portions  of  very 
mellifluous  and  Gounod-like  melody,  there  are  passages 
full  of  deeply  felt  pathos  and  there  is  much  that  is  hollow 


RECENT  MUSIC  IN  FRANCE 


353 


and  pretentious.  The  "Mors  et  Vita"  is  long  and  mo- 
notonous. The  first  part  is  a  requiem  mass,  the  second 
deals  with  the  judgment  and  the  third  with  eternal  life. 

A  few  of  Gounod's  songs  are  deservedly  celebrated. 
His  instrumental  music  is  weak. 

Gounod,  Autobiographical  Reminiscences,  trans,  by  Hutchinson; 
Marie  de  Bovet,  Gounod,  his  Life  and  Works  (personal  traits, 
opinions,  etc.);  Famous  Composers  and  their  Works,  series  i; 
Hervey,  French  Music  in  the  Nineteenth  Century,  and  Masters  of 
French  Music. 

The  most  eminent  French  composer  now  living  is 
Camille  Saint-Saens  (1835-  ).  He  is  one  of  the 
most  accomplished  and  versatile  of  modern  musicians. 
He  is  the  most  successful  instrumental  writer  of  France 
since  Berlioz,  he  has  greatly  distinguished  himself 
in  opera  and  religious  music,  he  is  one  of  the  fore- 
most pianists  in  Europe  and  has  held  high  positions  as 
organist.  He  is  also  a  brilliant  litterateur,  and  has  pub- 
lished excellent  critical  essays  besides  experiments  in 
verse.  His  compositions  include  the  operas  "  Samson 
et  Dalila,"  "Henry  VIII.,"  "  Etienne  Marcel"  and 
"Phryne" —  the  first  of  which  is  frequently  given  in 
England  and  America  in  oratorio  style ;  a  requiem  and 
other  church  music  ;  a  "  biblical  poem,"  "  Le  Deluge  "  ; 
a  very  strong  and  effective  body  of  works  for  orchestra, 
chamber  instruments  and  piano,  of  which  the  sym- 
phony in  C  minor,  the  piano  concertos  and  the 
symphonic  poems  "  Danse  Macabre,"  "  Phaeton,"  "  La 
Jeunesse  d'Hercule"  and  "  Le  Rouet  d'Omphale"  are 
among  the  most  admired  of  all  recent  works  of  their  re- 
spective classes ;  choruses  for  men's  voices  and  for  mixed 

23 


354    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


voices;  pieces  for  the  organ,  and  many  songs.  Saint- 
Saens  is  one  of  the  most  learned  composers  of  his  time,  a 
master  in  counterpoint  and  orchestration,  and  this  learn- 
ing is  handled  with  such  facility  that  he  always  realizes 
the  effect  intended.  He  has  not  only  distinguished 
himself  in  both  vocal  and  instrumental  music,  but  has 
achieved  equal  success  in  abstract  and  in  programme 
music.  Although  he  is  unequal  in  his  work,  everything 
that  he  does  has  an  air  of  distinction.  He  is  celebrated 
not  only  for  his  technical  ability  and  lucidity  of  style, 
but  also  for  his  versatility,  his  power  of  adjusting  him- 
self to  the  special  demands  of  the  form  of  music  in 
which  he  may  be  engaged.  Lacking  the  depth  and 
power  of  Cdsar  Franck  and  the  melodic  invention  of 
Gounod,  his  field  is  far  broader  than  that  of  either  of 
these,  and  in  no  form  that  he  has  touched  has  he  failed 
to  produce  work  that  is  brilliant  and  effective.  In 
cleverness  and  in  certainty  of  touch,  mastery  of  form, 
elegance  and  finish  he  is  a  representative  French  artist. 

Interesting  criticisms  of  Saint-Saens :  Hervey,  Masters  of 
French  Music,  and  French  Music  in  the  Nineteenth  Century; 
Mason,  From  Grieg  to  Brahms  ;  Famous  Composers  and  their  Works, 
series  i. 

The  production  of  44  Carmen "  in  1875,  the  work  of 
Georges  Bizet  (1838-1875),  indicated  that  an  opera 
composer  of  rare  ability  and  promise  had  appeared,  but 
the  hopes  thus  excited  were  blasted  by  the  gifted  author's 
death  in  the  same  year.  Although  Bizet  has  written 
other  music  of  marked  excellence  (the  opera  "Djami- 
leh,"  incidental  music  to  Daudet's  "  L'Arle'sienne "), 
his  fame  will  rest  upon  "  Carmen,"  which  is  now  uni- 
versally recognized  as  one  of  the  most  individual  and 


RECENT  MUSIC  IN  FRANCE 


355 


powerful  works  that  the  French  stage  has  ever  pro- 
duced. The  text,  arranged  from  M^rimeVs  celebrated 
novel,  is  exceedingly  well  adapted  to  musical  treatment, 
and  Bizet  has  succeeded  in  imparting  an  extraordinary 
vividness  to  the  characters,  and  in  finding  the  right  notes 
for  all  shades  of  sentiment,  pathos  and  passion.  The 
score  is  alive  from  beginning  to  end,  the  culminating 
moments  never  disappoint,  the  intermediate  sections  are 
never  dull.  It  is  also  the  work  of  a  solid  and  inventive 
musician  as  well  as  of  a  true  dramatist.  The  singular 
charm  of  the  work  is  likewise  due  to  the  pronounced 
Spanish  color  skilfully  achieved  in  melody,  rhythm  and 
orchestration. 

Hervey,  French  Music  in  the  Nineteenth  Century ;  Famous  Com- 
posers and  their  Works,  series  i ;  Hueffer,  Musical  Studies. 

Conspicuous  among  French  opera  composers  of  the 
present  is  Jules  Massenet  (1842-  ),  a  composer 
of  the  greatest  refinement  and  purity  of  style,  based 
on  profound  learning  and  truth  of  feeling.  His  popu- 
larity is  very  great  and  deserved.  He  is  noted  for  his 
skill  in  the  portrayal  of  the  tender  passion,  and  in  his 
clearly  marked  female  types  —  Eve,  Mary  Magdalen, 
Herodias,  Manon  —  and  the  lusciousness  of  his  melody 
he  comes  into  comparison  with  Gounod.  His  chief 
operas  are  "  Manon  Lescaut,"  "  He*rodiade,"  "  Esclar- 
monde,"  "Werther,"  "Le  Cid,"  "Le  Roi  de  Lahore." 
Massenet  has  also  distinguished  himself  in  orchestral 
suites  and  songs. 

Other  French  dramatic  composers  who  have  gained  in- 
ternational renown  are  Ambroise  Thomas  (1811-1896) 
—  "Mignon,"  " Hamlet";  Edouard  Lalo  (1823-1892) 


356     THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


—  "  Le  Roi  d'Ys  " ;  Ernest  Reyer  (1823-  )  —  "  Sigurd," 
"Salammbo";  Vincent  D'Indy  (1852-  )  —  "  Fervaal," 
libretto  in  prose  by  the  composer;  Emanuel  Chabaier 
(1841-1894)— "Gwendoline,"  "Le  Roi  malgr^  lui"; 
Gustave  Charpentier  (1860-  )  —  in  his  remarkable  opera 
"  Louise  "  he  has  accepted  the  task  of  portraying  the 
lights  and  shadows  of  contemporary  humble  life  in  its 
every-day  environment,  making  the  opera  a  realistic 
human  document;  Alfred  Bruneau  (1857- ),  —  a  lit- 
erary and  musical  champion  of  the  same  idea,  who  has 
collaborated  with  the  novelist  Zola  in  the  much  dis- 
cussed operas  "  Le  Reve,"  "  L'Attaque  du  Moulin " 
and  "Messidor  "  ;  L<30  Delibes  (1836-1891)  —  "  Lakme," 
the  ballet  "  Sylvia,"  a  masterpiece  of  its  kind ;  Claude 
Achille  Debussy  (1862-  ),  —  by  virtue  of  his  setting  of 
Maeterlinck's  "Pelleas  et  Melisande"  and  certain  in- 
strumental works  hailed  by  enthusiasts  as  "  the  coming 
man." 

Attention  should  be  called  here  to  the  remarkable 
songs  and  piano  pieces  of  Gabriel  Faure'  (1845-  ) 
and  Benjamin  Godard  (1849-1895),  the  violin  works  of 
Lalo  and  Godard,  and  the  orchestral  and  chamber  com- 
positions of  D'Indy  and  Debussy. 

Jacques  Offenbach  (1819-1880)  deserves  recog- 
nition here  as  one  of  the  most  marked  and  repre- 
sentative figures  of  the  Second  Empire.  As  creator  of 
the  present  type  of  ope'ra-bouffe  and  its  most  original 
and  brilliant  light,  he  has  exerted  a  positive  influence 
both  for  good  and  for  harm.  The  character  of  his  texts 
and  the  peculiarly  pungent  kind  of  music  with  which 
their  most   salient  points  are  spiced,  have  brought 


RECENT  MUSIC  IN  FRANCE 


357 


Offenbach  under  condemnation  with  serious  minds ;  but 
his  intention  was  to  add  to  public  gayety,  not  to  cor- 
rupt, and  as  a  master  of  burlesque  and  satire,  a  man  of 
remarkable  musical  gifts,  albeit  turned  to  the  uses  of 
levity,  and  as  the  originator  of  a  type  of  musical  farce 
which  has  been  definitely  adopted  into  French  art,  he 
must  be  seriously  considered  by  the  student  of  music 
history  as  well  as  by  the  student  of  manners. 

In  Famous  Composers  and  their  Works,  series  ii,  vol.  i,  the  reader 
Trill  find  his  fullest  and  most  authoritative  account  of  all  the  con- 
spicuous French  composers  of  the  later  day,  the  excellent  work  of 
Philip  Hale.  Saint-Saens,  Gounod,  Thomas,  Bizet  and  Massenet 
are  treated  in  series  i.  The  various  movements  which  these 
composers  represent,  especially  in  opera,  are  tersely  and  intelli- 
gently characterized  by  Mr.  Hervey  in  French  Music  in  the  Nine- 
teenth Century.  See  also  Apthorp,  The  Opera,  Past  and  Present, 
and  Hervey,  Masters  of  French  Music,  article  on  Bruneau.  For 
contemporary  French  composers  generally,  Elson,  Modern  Com- 
posers of  Europe.  There  is  a  very  thorough  and  instructive  essay 
on  Offenbach  by  W.  F.  Apthorp  in  Musicians  and  Music  Lovers. 

The  condition  of  the  French  operatic  stage  to-day  is 
very  hopeful.  The  Wagner  influence  so  far  as  it  re- 
pressed originality  has  been  thrown  off.  "Nationality 
in  music  "  is  the  cry.  There  is  enthusiasm,  self-confi- 
dence, a  striving  to  express  individuality  which  often 
results  in  the  bizarre,  outre  and  morbid,  but  is  a  sign  of 
life  and  of  a  reaching  forward.  The  controlling  pur- 
pose is  to  bring  music  into  closer  affinity  with  literature 
in  its  most  modern  aspects,  to  lay  stress  upon  the  ex- 
pression of  the  soul  state  and  the  emotion  that  is  the 
ground  of  action,  rather  than  upon  the  externalities  of 
action,  and  to  blend  drama  and  music  according  to  the 


358    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 

Wagnerian  principle,  though  not  by  the  Wagnerian 
technical  formulas. 

A  name  which  seems  to  loom  larger  and  larger  in 
the  music  of  the  present  is  that  of  Cesar  Franck 
(1822-1890).  He  was  born  in  Liege,  Belgium,  spent 
his  musical  life  in  Paris,  a  shy  recluse,  devout,  indiffer- 
ent to  worldly  success,  a  man  of  rare  simplicity  of  char- 
acter, a  beloved  and  very  able  teacher,  a  profound 
student,  an  accomplished  organist,  slowly  recognized  as 
one  of  the  greatest  religious  composers  of  the  last  half- 
century,  successful  also  in  orchestral  and  chamber  music. 
His  masterpiece  is  "  Les  Beatitudes,"  an  oratorio,  pub- 
lished in  1880,  first  performed  entire  in  1891.  It  is  a 
work  of  extraordinary  depth  and  pathos,  powerful  in 
dramatic  contrast,  showing  the  highest  knowledge  in 
treatment  of  voices  and  instruments,  devout  in  senti- 
ment, exceedingly  rich  yet  appropriate  in  coloring, 
complex  and  difficult  in  texture  yet  suffused  with  ex- 
quisite melody,  glowing  at  every  point  with  a  romantic 
mystical  splendor.  Franck's  organ  works,  although  in- 
volved and  severe,  reveal  a  wealth  of  powerful  and 
original  ideas.  Certain  orchestral  and  chamber  works 
are  among  the  most  notable  of  recent  times.  Basing 
his  work  on  the  most  solid  foundations  (he  has  been 
called  "the  French  Bach"),  he  was  singularly  receptive 
to  progressive  influences  and  exemplified  the  best  of 
them  in  his  work. 

Appreciative  studies  of  Franck  in  Famous  Composers  and  their 
Works,  series  ii ;  Mason,  From  Grieg  to  Brahms ;  Hervey,  French 
Music  in  the  Nineteenth  Century;  Studies  in  Music,  edited  by 
Grey. 


XLI 


RECENT  MUSIC  IN  ITALY 

Turning  to  modern  Italy  we  find  a  colossus  towering 
above  all  his  contemporaries,  the  one  opera  composer  of 
his  time  whose  shining  was  not  dimmed  by  the  lustre  of 
Wagner.  Giuseppe  Verdi  (1813-1901)  may  fairly 
be  called  the  greatest  dramatic  composer  that  Italy  has 
ever  produced.  He  is  exceptional  among  musicians  for 
an  intellectual  vitality  so  enduring  and  resourceful  that 
his  most  elaborate  and  powerful  works  were  produced 
after  he  was  fifty-seven  years  old,  the  last,  "Falstaff," 
written  at  the  age  of  eighty,  being  one  of  the  freshest 
and  most  vigorous  of  his  career.  After  reaching  the 
confines  of  old  age  his  development  was  so  rapid  and 
pronounced  that  all  his  previous  work  seemed  but  prep- 
aration and  experiment. 

In  his  earlier  period  Verdi  is  commonly  classed 
with  Bellini  and  Donizetti,  but  hardly  with  justice, 
for  although  the  form  and  technical  basis  of  his  operas 
were  akin  to  theirs  in  accordance  with  Italian  tradi- 
tion, he  showed  from  the  first  an  energy  and  dra- 
matic force  which  set  him  apart.  This  vigor  was 
attained  at  the  expense  of  much  that  was  thin,  noisy, 
sensational  and  tasteless,  but  gradually  his  style  was 
enriched  with  the  growth  of  musical  knowledge;  the 
nature  of  true  dramatic  expression  was  little  by  little 


360     THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


revealed  to  him;  his  range  of  emotional  expression 
enlarged,  he  sought  more  and  more  to  render  feeling 
and  inner  motive  as  well  as  to  paint  outward  act  and 
situation;  he  gradually  gained  the  power  of  moulding 
all  elements  of  score  and  plot  into  a  unity,  aiming  to 
make  his  music  in  form  and  character  conform  to  the 
poetic  requirements  of  the  text  and  scene  rather  than 
to  the  old  crude  demand  for  vocal  and  spectacular 
effect.  He  always  had  a  sense  of  dramatic  claims  and 
tried  to  gratify  them  according  to  his  light.  Since  he 
was  a  man  of  superior  intellect,  of  poetic  feeling  and 
artistic  conscience,  a  larger  measure  of  this  light  was 
constantly  vouchsafed  him,  until  in  "Aida,"  "Otello" 
and  "  Falstaff  "  he  virtually  adopted  the  principles  of 
Wagner  and  the  later  French  composers.  In  sacrific- 
ing the  undramatic  "set  piece  "  for  the  sake  of  continu- 
ous musical  movement,  enriching  the  recitative  and  the 
orchestral  accompaniment,  effecting  a  unity  among  all 
the  factors  —  musical,  poetic,  and  scenic  —  there  is  no 
imitation  of  Wagner,  as  has  been  alleged;  Verdi  pre- 
served his  own  characteristic  style,  albeit  mellowed 
and  refined,  and  there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  he 
would  not  have  achieved  the  same  result  by  virtue  of 
his  mental  growth  and  independent  study  of  the  prob- 
lem if  Wagner  had  not  lived. 

Verdi  wrote  twenty-seven  operas,  beginning  with 
"Oberto"  (1839).  "I  Lombard!"  (1843)  and  "Er- 
nani  "  (1844)  gave  him  a  European  reputation.  His 
fiery  Italian  patriotism  during  the  great  historic  move- 
ment towards  national  consolidation  and  independence 
(see  Midler,  Political  History  of  Recent  Times)  was 


RECENT  MUSIC  IN  ITALY 


361 


often  manifest  in  his  operas;  be  became  the  idol  of 
the  Italian  people,  was  elected  to  the  Italian  parlia- 
ment in  1860  and  appointed  senator  in  1875.  In  1851 
he  opened  a  group  of  operas  which  gave  him  a  popu- 
larity that  has  rarely  been  rivalled.  "  Rigoletto  "  (1851), 
"II  Trovatore"  (1853)  and  "La  Traviata"  (1853)  show 
a  great  advance;  they  display  his  wonderful  melodic  gift 
in  its  most  brilliant  light,  at  the  same  time  containing 
scenes  of  great  dramatic  spirit.  "Un  Ballo  in  Mas- 
chera"  (1859)  and  "Don  Carlos"  (1867)  were  hardly 
less  admired.  But  these  works  were  still  transitional; 
their  powerful  musical  material  is  still  unorganized, 
there  are  long  stretches  of  barrenness,  poetic  truth  is 
often  sacrificed  to  immediate  sensation. 

The  group  of  mature  works  which  has  given  Verdi 
his  place  of  honor  in  the  hearts  of  those  who  take  the 
musical  drama  most  seriously  comprises  "  Aida  "  (1871), 
"Otello"  (1887)  and  "Falstaff"  (1893).  "Aula"  is 
one  of  the  richest  of  his  works  in  vocal  melody,  but 
melody  is  employed  not  for  sensuous  enjoyment  but 
for  poetic  expression.  Interest  is  maintained  in  the 
recitative  portions  as  well  as  in  the  arias,  and  the 
orchestra  for  the  first  time  attains  primary  importance. 
The  tendencies  towards  a  continuous  form  of  music  and 
a  more  condensed  style,  and  the  merging  of  voice  and 
orchestra  parts,  are  carried  still  further  in  "Otello" 
and  "Falstaff."  Greater  space  is  also  given  to  the 
chorus.  The  old  Verdian  stream  of  fascinating  melody 
seems  less  affluent  in  these  works,  and  for  this  reason 
some  rate  "Ai'da"  above  them.  "Falstaff,"  the  work 
of  an  octogenarian,  is  a  comic  opera,  and  one  of  the 


362     THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


freshest  and  most  vivacious  in  the  history  of  the  stage. 
Moreover  it  yields  to  no  other  of  Verdi's  works  in 
solidity  of  substance  and  tone  quality;  it  is  the  result 
of  his  lifelong  effort  to  gain  mastery  of  the  scienti- 
fic side  of  his  art.  In  estimating  the  greatness  of 
"Otello"  and  "Falstaff  "  full  credit  must  be  given  to 
Verdi's  collaborator,  the  poet-composer  Arrigo  Boito, 
who  has  fashioned  out  of  Shakspeare  two  of  the  most 
perfect  librettos  ever  written.  Some  go  so  far  as  to 
attribute  much  of  Verdi's  later  conviction  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  rights  of  the  drama  in  opera  music  to  the 
personal  influence  of  Boito. 

The  "Manzoni  Requiem"  (1874)  is  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  works  of  its  class,  and  reveals  the  musically 
mature  Verdi  of  the  "  Aida  "  period.  Objection  has 
been  taken  to  it  on  the  ground  of  the  theatricalness 
of  certain  numbers,  but  justice  requires  that  it  should 
be  criticised  in  view  of  the  nature  and  purpose  of  the 
Catholic  ritual  and  the  racial  differences  in  religious 
feeling  and  expression  between  the  peoples  of  the  Latin 
and  Teutonic  stocks.  Verdi,  a  man  of  genuine  religious 
conviction,  has  composed  a  few  other  strongly  individ- 
ual works  for  the  church,  including  a  deeply  felt  and 
musically  lovely  "Stabat  Mater." 

Famous  Composers  and  their  Works,  series  i;  Grove's  Dictionary, 
articles  Verdi,  Opera;  Pougin,  Verdi,  An  Anecdotic  History  of  his 
Life  and  Works;  Streatfeild,  Masters  of  Italian  Music ;  Huneker, 
Overtones  :  Verdi  and  Boito. 

Italy,  once  the  standard-bearer  of  musical  progress, 
shows  at  the  beginning  of  the  twentieth  century  no 
such  vitality  and  promise  as  France.     The  instru- 


RECENT  MUSIC  IN  ITALY 


363 


mental  and  choral  movement,  which  has  given  new- 
vigor  and  hope  to  French  music,  has  no  parallel  in 
Italy.  Italian  music  at  present  means  simply  opera 
music,  and  it  is  doubtful  if  opera  henceforth  can  flour- 
ish greatly  unless  sustained  by  a  mastery  of  the  orches- 
tral and  choral  forms.  Italian  composers  have  been 
numerous  enough  in  recent  times,  but  few  of  them 
have  made  any  impression  outside  of  their  own  coun- 
try, and  these  few,  with  the  exception  of  Verdi,  have 
aroused  interest  more  by  the  hints  of  new  possibilities 
in  art  than  by  their  actual  achievements. 

Arrigo  Boito  (1842-  ),  Verdi's  accomplished  collab- 
orator in  "Otello"  and  "Falstaff,"  excited  the  highest 
expectations  by  virtue  of  his  very  strong  and  original 
"  Mefistof ele, "  produced  in  1868,  remodelled  and  con- 
densed and  reperformed  in  1875.  He  was  hailed  as 
the  man  who  was  to  lead  Italian  music  into  new  paths. 
These  hopes  have  been  disappointed,  for  although 
rumors  have  spread  from  time  to  time  of  a  new  opera 
from  Boito's  pen,  nothing  more  has  come.  He  seems 
to  have  definitely  turned  his  great  talent  into  literature 
rather  than  music. 

Within  a  few  years,  however,  a  new  school  of  opera 
has  appeared  in  Italy,  some  of  the  products  of  which 
made  a  tremendous  noise  in  the  world  for  a  short 
period.  In  fact  the  sensation  created  by  Mascagni's 
"  Cavalleria  Rusticana  "  (1890)  and  Leoncavallo's  "Pa- 
gliacci "  (1892)  has  had  no  parallel  since  the  Rossini  craze. 
These  composers  and  others  who  pursued  the  same  direc- 
tion undertook  to  compose  dramas  of  real  life,  marked  by 
condensed  and  swiftly  moving  action,  characters  taken 


364    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


from  the  middle  and  lower  grades  of  society,  events 
exciting  and  often  shocking,  music  highly  colored,  im- 
passioned, sometimes  violent  and  coarse.  This  school 
may  be  called  a  counterpart  of  the  naturalistic  school  in 
fiction  and  the  spoken  drama.  In  the  typical  produc- 
tions of  this  group  of  writers  the  animal  side  of  human 
nature  is  emphasized,  the  native  instincts  and  passions 
are  displayed  in  all  their  nakedness.  There  is  no  re- 
lief of  noble  sentiment,  no  suggestion  of  moral  reaction. 
The  plots  turn  upon  the  basest  impulses  —  hate,  lust, 
jealousy  —  and  the  catastrophe  is  murder  or  suicide.  A 
good  deal  of  talent  is  displayed  in  some  of  these  operas ; 
the  plots  are  natural  and  have  dramatic  consistency; 
they  follow  the  modern  tendency  by  throwing  chief 
weight  upon  the  subject  and  scene,  making  the  music 
exist  not  for  vocal  allurement,  as  in  the  old  Italian 
opera,  but  for  the  sake  of  adding  force  to  action  and 
poetic  development.  The  music  is  occasionally  rich 
and  effective,  often  blatant,  shallow  and  sensational. 

This  new  idea  of  operatic  realism  in  brief,  highly 
electrified  pieces  (although  suggested  doubtless  by 
features  in  Bizet's  "  Carmen ")  broke  suddenly  upon 
the  world  in  1890,  with  "Cavalleria  Rusticana,"  an 
opera  in  one  act,  by  Pietro  Mascagni  (1863-  ), 
which  took  the  musical  world  of  Europe  by  storm. 
"In  the  opera  are  these  elements:  simple  means  em- 
ployed by  simple  characters  shake  and  harrow  the  spec- 
tators; dramatic  touches  are  blows  in  their  directness; 
the  occasional  absence  of  judicious  art  is  forgotten  in 
the  exhibition  of  fierce  truth.  In  his  haste  to  tell  his 
story  Mascagni  has  no  time  to  construct  themes  of 


RECENT  MUSIC  IN  ITALY 


365 


balanced  length.  Phrases  are  short  and  intense ;  rhythm 
frets;  dissonances  rage  and  scream.  There  is  feverish 
unrest  from  beginning  to  end;  but  the  fever  is  the 
fever  of  a  sturdy,  hotblooded  youth,  and  not  the  arti- 
ficial flush  of  a  jaded  maker  of  music  "  (Philip  Hale, 
preface  to  Schirmer's  edition  of  the  opera).  From  the 
musical  side  alone  "  Cavalleria  Rusticana  "  is  not  a  great 
work.  It  is  easy  to  see  that  its  success  is  chiefly  due  to 
the  vivid  action  and  horrifying  denouement.  Mascagni 
has  since  written  a  number  of  operas,  but  all  of  them 
have  been  received  with  indifference. 

A  rival  to  "  Cavalleria  Rusticana "  on  its  own 
ground  is  "Pagliacci,"  by  Ruggiero  Leoncavallo 
(1858-  ).  Its  subject  is  very  similar  to  that  of  Mas- 
cagni's  work,  and  it  owes  its  triumph  to  much  the 
same  causes.  It  is,  however,  superior  musically.  The 
promise  of  this  work  has  not  been  fulfilled.  Other 
prominent  writers  of  this  school  are  Tasca,  Spinelli, 
Giordano  and  Puccini.  The  latter  (1858-  )  is  the  best 
equipped  musically,  and  in  his  uLa  Boheme  "  (1897)  he 
has  produced  a  work  that  seems  to  possess  real  vitality. 

Lively  description  of  the  "  verismo  "  school  in  Famous  Compos- 
ers and  their  Works,  series  ii,  by  Torchi,  an  unsympathetic  critic. 
Interesting  characterization  by  Henderson  in  Modern  Musical 
Drift:  Italian  Opera  of  To-day.  See  also  Streatfeild,  Masters  of 
Italian  Music ;  Elson,  Modern  Composers  of  Europe. 


XLII 


RECENT  MUSIC  IN  RUSSIA,   BOHEMIA  AND 
SCANDINAVIA 

Those  who  look  for  signs  of  the  times  in  the 
present-day  activity  in  the  world  of  music  will  observe 
with  interest  a  vigorous  movement  in  what  may  be 
called  the  border-lands  of  musical  Europe,  particu- 
larly Russia,  Bohemia,  Hungary  and  Scandinavia.  Is 
the  musical  sceptre  soon  to  slip  from  the  grasp  of 
Germany,  Italy  and  France,  and  the  primacy  pass  to 
the  people  of  the  Slavic  race?  There  has  long  been 
evidence  of  musical  vitality  in  these  countries.  They 
have  cultivated  artistic  music  for  a  long  period,  but  until 
a  comparatively  recent  day  they  were  under  the  influ- 
ence of  the  older  musical  nations,  producing  music  that 
was  not  national,  but  an  echo  of  Italy  and  Germany. 
But  now  we  are  met  by  the  significant  fact  that  these 
eastern  and  northern  countries  are  turning  their  atten- 
tion towards  their  own  native  music,  the  folk  song  and 
folk  dance,  finding  there  new  sources  of  inspiration  as 
well  as  new  tonalities,  rhythms  and  melodic  forms. 
These  nations  are  richly  endowed  with  racy  and  in- 
dividual forms  of  folk  music,  and  from  these  and  from 
peculiar  qualities  of  national  instruments  they  have 
brought  into  the  current  of  European  music  certain 
very  marked  and  original   features.     The  freshness 


IN  RUSSIA,  BOHEMIA  AND  SCANDINAVIA  367 


and  energy  of  this  new  national  music  have  revitalized 
the  traditional  forms,  some  of  which  seemed  about  to 
enter  upon  a  period  of  decadence,  and  appear  to  fore- 
shadow a  new  epoch  in  musical  evolution.  No  great 
monumental  works  have  as  yet  arisen  from  these 
sources,  but  the  time  is  not  yet  ripe.  Novel  and  fas- 
cinating melodies,  harmonies,  rhythms  and  tone  colors 
do  not  of  themselves  promise  art  works  of  the  first 
order,  —  the  question  is  of  their  expressive  value  and 
the  intellectual  power  fitted  to  develop  and  co-ordinate 
them.  With  new  and  pregnant  material,  and  a  wide- 
spread musical  activity,  historic  analogy  bids  us  look 
confidently  for  the  coming  of  the  masters. 

Of  these  new  national  schools  the  later  Russian  holds 
an  especially  conspicuous  place.  Russia  is  the  great 
unknown  quantity  in  the  history  of  the  near  future; 
the  forces  stirring  there  are  watched  with  mingled  hope 
and  dread.  The  relation  of  art  to  national  life  is 
nowhere  more  apparent.  Just  as  the  people's  voice 
is  heard  in  Russia's  powerful  and  gloomy  literature, 
so  there  is  likewise  a  tone  of  struggle  in  its  music,  a 
consciousness  of  undeveloped  strength,  an  uncertainty 
as  to  what  direction  shall  be  taken  when  this  strength 
is  at  last  set  free. 

The  clash  of  influences,  native  and  foreign,  that 
causes  the  turmoil  in  Russian  social  and  political  life, 
is  apparent  in  Russian  musical  history.  Music  is 
always  cosmopolitan,  its  forms  and  technic  are  common 
to  all  nations,  it  speaks  a  universal  language,  the  cry 
for  nationalism,  so  insistent  at  the  present  day,  can 
be  obeyed  only  under  very  obvious  limitations;  but 


368    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 

there  are  certain  distinctive  traits  that  can  be  identified 
in  the  music  of  all  nations,  and  Russia,  within  a  few 
decades,  has  turned  upon  herself  and  is  searching  for 
the  native  materials  that  shall  give  her  music  an  in- 
dividuality gratifying  to  the  national  pride. 

No  country  in  Europe  has  a  richer  store  of  folk  songs 
than  Russia.  Every  section  has  its  special  local  melo- 
dies, many  of  which  have  come  down  from  great  an- 
tiquity, transferred  from  the  original  Asiatic  homes  of 
those  who  practise  them.  Certain  general  traits  they 
have  in  common,  —  limited  compass,  shortness  of  melo- 
dic themes,  rhythmic  irregularities,  abrupt  interchange 
of  major  and  minor  tonalities.  Many  are  based  on  the 
ancient  Greek  modes.  In  spite  of  the  dulness  and  hope- 
lessness of  the  life  of  the  Russian  masses,  they  are  a 
singing  people,  and  travellers  certify  in  surprise  to 
their  skill  and  the  beauty  of  their  songs. 

Another  important  feature  of  Russian  national  music 
is  the  music  of  the  church.  The  Russian  church  has 
never  permitted  the  use  of  instruments  in  worship,  not 
even  the  organ.  Much  of  the  liturgic  music,  and  in 
the  early  days  the  whole  of  it,  consists  of  chanting  in 
a  stylo  similar  to  the  Gregorian  chant,  reaching  back 
with  but  slight  modification  to  the  earliest  centuries 
of  the  church.  Harmonized  music  was  introduced  late 
in  the  seventeenth  century.  Since  that  time  the  Italian 
influence  has  been  felt,  but  never  to  the  degree  that  in 
the  Catholic  church  has  often  led  to  the  denial  of 
ecclesiastical  traditions  in  favor  of  concert  and  dra- 
matic imitations.  The  tsars  have  given  special  atten- 
tion to  perfecting  religious  music  in  their  capitals,  and 


IN  RUSSIA,  BOHEMIA  AND  SCANDINAVIA  369 


in  beauty  of  tone  and  perfection  of  execution  the  music 
of  the  leading  Russian  choirs  is  not  surpassed,  perhaps 
not  equalled  in  the  world.  The  performances  of  the 
St.  Petersburg  imperial  choir,  with  its  sub-basses  sing- 
ing nearly  an  octave  below  the  usual  bass  register,  excite 
the  astonishment  of  all  who  hear  them.  The  present 
condition  of  Russian  church  music  is  largely  due  to 
Dimitri  Bortniansky  (1752-1825),  composer,  compiler 
and  editor,  and  reorganize!-  of  the  imperial  choir. 

In  spite  of  these  native  musical  treasures  in  church  and 
folk  music,  secular  cultivated  music  in  Russia  was,  until 
a  comparatively  recent  period,  controlled  by  foreign  in- 
fluences, at  first  Italian,  then  French.  This  was  espe- 
cially true  of  opera,  down  to  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  Instrumental  music  was  hardly  considered  at 
all.  An  Italian  opera  was  first  heard  in  St.  Petersburg 
in  1737,  and  the  Italian  music  reigned  supreme  at  the 
court  until  early  in  the  nineteenth  century,  when  French 
opera  established  a  successful  rivalry. 

The  dominance  of  foreign  fashions  in  opera  was 
finally  broken  by  Mikhail  Ivanovich  Glinka  (1804- 
1857),  who,  in  his  "Life  for  the  Tsar  "(1836),  rendered 
a  service  to  Russia  precisely  equivalent  to  that  conferred 
upon  Germany  by  Weber  in  his  "  Der  Freischutz. "  Here 
was  an  opera  on  a  national  subject  —  the  rescue  of  the 
reigning  tsar  from  his  Polish  enemies  by  a  peasant  at 
the  cost  of  his  own  life  (an  incident  that  actually  oc- 
curred in  1613)  —  in  which  an  extensive  and  syste- 
matic use  of  Russian  and  Polish  types  of  melody  was 
employed,  attaining  thereby  a  national  coloring  and 
pointing  the  way  to  a  distinctive  national   form  of 

24 


370    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


musical  dramatic  art.  Glinka  was  a  composer  of  learn- 
ing and  genius,  a  master  of  melody,  harmony  and  or- 
chestration; "Life  for  the  Tsar"  is  a  work  of  such 
power  that  reaction  was  impossible  and  the  creation 
of  a  national  school  of  music  was  convincingly  assured. 
The  professional  musicians  as  well  as  the  enthusiastic 
public  saw  at  once  the  historic  significance  of  this 
work,  and  Glinka  is  rightly  considered  as  the  father 
of  modern  Russian  music.  Glinka's  second  opera, 
"Ruslan  and  Ludmilla,"  confirmed  his  credit  as  a 
musician.  It  is  an  ultra -romantic  work;  the  story 
is  of  Oriental  origin,  and  the  score  contains  reminis- 
cences of  Russian,  Finnish,  Circassian  and  Persian 
national  music. 

Glinka  was  immediately  followed  by  composers  less 
in  ability  than  he,  but  as  enthusiastically  Russian. 
The  most  important  are  Dargomizhsky  and  Sierov. 
This  older  group  was  followed  by  a  coterie  who  asso- 
ciated themselves  together  under  the  name  of  the  "  neo- 
Russian  "  school,  promulgating  certain  principles  which 
they  asserted  a  truly  Russian  music  should  follow. 
Ce*sar  Cui,  one  of  the  founders  of  the  school,  has  given 
us  its  doctrines  in  detail.  Symphonic  music,  thanks  to 
Beethoven,  Schumann,  Liszt  and  Berlioz,  has  arrived 
at  its  complete  development;  henceforth  nothing  new 
can  be  accomplished  in  that  field.  It  is  otherwise  with 
the  opera ;  dramatic  music  is  still  in  a  transition  state. 
The  opera  is  in  its  third  stage  of  evolution  —  probably 
the  last  —  which  is  that  of  accentuating  by  musical 
sounds  the  word  that  carries  the  thought.  There  are 
certain  principles  in  dramatic  music  of  the  highest  im- 


IN  RUSSIA,  BOHEMIA  AND  SCANDINAVIA  3T1 


portance:  (1)  It  should  have  an  intrinsic  value,  like 
absolute  music,  apart  from  the  text;  (2)  vocal  music 
should  be  in  perfect  accord  with  the  sense  of  the  words ; 
(3)  the  structure  of  the  scenes  ought  to  depend  entirely 
upon  the  reciprocal  situation  of  the  personages,  as  well 
as  the  general  movement  of  the  piece.  These  rules, 
announced  in  1856,  are  a  protest  against  the  musical 
triviality  of  the  Italian  opera  and  its  disregard  of  dra- 
matic claims.  They  are,  of  course,  the  principles  of 
Wagner,  but  the  neo-Russians  protested  against  what 
they  called  Wagner's  sacrifice  of  vocal  melody  to  the 
orchestra,  and  also  rejected  the  "leading-motive."  1 

The  members  of  this  group  —  the  chiefs  of  the 
neo-Russian  school  —  were  Alexander  Borodin 
(1834-1887),  Mili  Balakirev  (1837-  ),  Cesar  Cui 
(1835-  ),  Modeste  Moussorgsky  (1839-1886)  and 
Nicolas  Rimsky-Korsakov  (1844-  ).  All  of  these 
composers  have  been  able  to  extend  their  fame  over 
Europe.  Several  have  practised  music  in  connection 
with  other  professions :  Cui  is  a  general  in  the  Russian 
army  and  a  professor  of  fortification  in  military  schools ; 
Borodin  was  a  professor  of  chemistry;  Rimsky-Korsakov 
was  for  a  time  an  officer  in  the  navy.  The  latter  is  the 
most  learned  of  the  group,  and  his  solid  culture  has 
preserved  him  from  certain  amateurish  defects  easily 
traceable  in  much  of  the  work  of  his  associates.  It  is 
rather  singular  that  while  these  "new  Russians"  laid 
down  as  one  of  their  beliefs  that  there  could  be  no 
further  progress  in  symphonic  music  and  that  the 
only  hope  of  progress  was  in  the  opera,  they  are  far 

1  Cesar  Cui,  La  Musique  en  Russie,  pp.  71-9. 


372    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


better  known  by  their  orchestral  works  than  by  their 
dramatic  efforts.  They  have  usually  followed  the 
principles  of  the  programme  school  —  Borodin's  "In 
the  Steppes  of  Central  Asia  "  and  Rimsky-Korsakov's 
"  Antar  "  are  famous.  Borodin  also  excelled  in  absolute 
music.  As  a  rule,  not  especially  strong  in  melody, 
they  have  made  bold  experiments  in  harmony  and 
rhythm,  and  have  shown  a  striking  command  over  all 
the  resources  of  orchestral  color.  The  novel  quality 
of  their  music  is  largely  due  to  the  influence  of  the 
peculiar  rhythms,  tonalities  and  melodic  formulas  of 
the  Russian  folk  song.  The  most  prominent  of  their 
younger  disciples  is  Alexander  Glazounov  (1865-  ), 
a  master  of  musical  science  and  a  writer  of  strong  and 
original  invention. 

Probably  the  greatest  musical  genius  that  Russia  has 
produced,  certainly  the  most  admired  in  Western  Europe 
and  America,  is  Peter  Ilyitch  Tchaikovsky  (1840- 
1893).  He  is  not  rated  in  Russia  as  a  strictly  national 
composer,  and  the  "  new  Russian  "  party  declares  that  he 
is  more  German  than  Russian.  His  music  is  among  the 
most  brilliant  and  individual  of  recent  times,  and  its 
boldness,  varied  contrasts  and  the  strain  of  passionate 
melancholy  that  runs  through  it  have  seemed  to  make 
it  correspond  to  the  general  foreign  notion  of  Russian 
life  and  character,  and  hence  have  given  it  an  interest 
that  is  more  than  personal.  He  has  produced  notable 
work  in  orchestral  music,  both  abstract  and  representa- 
tive, chamber  music,  piano  music,  opera,  church  music 
and  song.  The  current  impression  of  Tchaikovsky  as 
a  musical  pessimist  is  due  chiefly  to  the  "Pathetic 


IN  RUSSIA,  BOHEMIA  AND  SCANDINAVIA  373 


symphony,"  his  last  work,  which  has  been  the  most 
pronounced  success  of  recent  years  in  orchestral  con- 
certs. There  is  certainly  much  in  his  music  that  is 
light  and  even  joyful,  but  his  most  representative 
work  is  manifestly  pervaded  by  a  tone  of  struggle  and 
revolt.  Tchaikovsky  seems  never  to  have  acquired  a 
full  mastery  of  his  genius.  He  often  rises  to  a  thrill- 
ing grandeur  and  dramatic  intensity,  while  again  he  is 
often  trivial  and  sensational.  In  mastery  of  orchestral 
color  he  has  hardly  had  a  superior.  Like  all  Russians 
he  loves  capricious  rhythms,  minor  tonality,  sombre 
chromatic  progressions,  harsh  combinations,  repetitions 
of  abrupt  figures,  but  he  excels  his  compatriots  in 
melodic  invention.  He  is  great  in  vivid  moments, 
rather  than  in  large  and  developed  conceptions.  He 
is  certainly  one  of  the  notable  men  of  his  time,  but 
his  place  in  music  history  is  not  yet  determined. 

Anton  Rubinstein  (1829-1894),  the  most  famous 
pianist  of  his  time  next  to  Liszt,  is  even  more  familiar 
to  the  musical  world  than  Tchaikovsky  by  reason  of 
his  meteoric  concert  tours  over  Europe  and  America; 
but  although  much  of  his  music  is  known  in  every 
musical  household  he  must  be  held  decidedly  inferior 
to  his  rival  as  a  composer.  He  is  also  less  national, 
and  little  that  can  be  called  positively  Russian  is 
to  be  found  in  his  work.  There  has  been  no  more 
ambitious  composer,  and  he  has  produced  a  great 
amount  of  music  from  the  largest  to  the  smallest 
forms,  but  he  just  fails  at  every  point  to  produce 
work  of  the  first  order.  His  operas  and  oratorios 
(the  latter  might  be  called  religious  operas)  are  more 


374    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


pretentious  than  satisfying.  His  vein  of  melody, 
though  abundant,  is  on  the  whole  lacking  in  vigor 
and  originality.  His  most  admired  compositions  are 
the  "Ocean  symphony, "  ballet  music  from  certain 
operas,  works  for  the  'cello,  the  splendid  D  minor 
piano  concerto,  a  few  piano  pieces  out  of  a  vast  num- 
ber and  the  Persian  songs. 

The  conservatories  of  St.  Petersburg  and  Moscow 
offer  as  thorough  discipline  as  any  in  Europe.  From 
them  proceeds  a  large  and  rapidly  increasing  company 
of  composers  who  have  something  important  to  say  and 
are  trained  to  say  it  in  a  very  effective  manner.  Their 
music  is  positive  and  individual,  often  experimental  and 
extravagant,  but  possessing  elements  of  unmistakable 
power. 

The  fullest  history  of  Russian  music  in  English  is  in  Famous 
Composers  and  their  Works,  series  i  (H.  T.  Finck),  and  series  ii 
(Philip  Hale).  See  also,  Elson,  Modern  Composers  of  Europe,  and 
Borodin  and  Liszt,  translated  by  Rosa  Newmarch  from  the  French 
of  Habets.  For  still  further  information  the  student  would  be 
dependent  upon  French  books,  notably  Cesar  Cui's  Musique  en 
Russie  (unfortunately  out  of  print  and  scarce),  and  Pougin's  Essai 
historique  sur  la  musique  en  Russie. 

The  authoritative  work  on  the  life  of  Tchaikovsky  is  the  biogra- 
phy by  his  brother,  Modeste  Tchaikovsky,  abridged  and  translated 
into  English  by  Rosa  Newmarch.  See  also  Famous  Composers  and 
their  Works,  series  i;  Rosa  Newmarch,  Tchaikovsky,  his  Life  and 
Works ;  important  articles  by  Newman  and  Kelton  in  the  Contempo- 
rary Review,  July  and  September,  1900,  June,  1901,  and  April,  1904. 
There  is  an  elaborate  study  of  Tchaikovsky's  piano  music  by 
Huneker  in  Mezzotints  hi  Modern  Music. 

For  Rubinstein:  Mc Arthur,  Anton  Rubinstein:  A  Biographical 
Sketch;  Rubinstein,  Autobiography,  translated  by  Aline  Delano; 
Famous  Composers  and  their  Works,  series  i. 

Two  albums  of  Russian  piano  music,  published  by  Schirmer, 
illustrate  many  salient  points  in  the  Russian  musical  style. 


IN  RUSSIA,  BOHEMIA  AND  SCANDINAVIA  375 


The  Bohemians,  allied  in  race  to  the  Russians,  are 
also  obeying  the  present  tendency  to  seek  for  fresh 
material  in  national  sources.  Until  a  recent  period 
under  bondage  to  foreign  styles,  they  have  declared 
their  independence.  The  chief  of  the  founders  of 
the  Bohemian  national  school  is  Feiedrich  Smetana 
(1824-1884).  His  operas  are  the  first  of  importance  to 
be  written  to  Czechic  texts.  "  The  Bartered  Bride  " 
announced  the  presence  of  a  school  of  opera  that  is 
Bohemian  in  language,  subjects  and  musical  coloring. 
Equally  important  are  Smetana's  instrumental  works 
by  virtue  of  their  patriotic  purpose  as  well  as  inherent 
merit.  He  followed  the  Liszt-Berlioz  direction,  pro- 
ducing among  many  symphonic  poems  a  notable  cyclus 
of  six  on  Bohemian  subjects,  —  history,  legend,  land- 
scape. He  even  carried  the  representative  idea  into 
the  string  quartet  (quartet,  "Out  of  my  Life,"  E 
minor).  Smetana,  while  not  to  be  classed  among 
the  greatest  geniuses,  was  a  composer  of  learning, 
originality  and  force,  and  his  permanent  influence  is 
not  to  be  mistaken. 

Famous  Composers  and  their  Works,  series  ii. 

In  the  mind  of  the  musical  world  at  large  the  repre- 
sentative Bohemian  composer  is  Antoxin  Dvorak 
(1841-1904).  He  was  of  peasant  stock,  his  musical 
education  was  irregular,  and  he  was  forced  to  undergo 
a  long  and  bitter  struggle  for  recognition.  At  the  age 
of  thirty-six  he  leaped  into  fame  with  his  captivating 
Slavic  dances  for  orchestra.  The  strong  Bohemian 
savor  in  these  pieces  pervades  a  large  amount  of  his 


376    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


instrumental  music  and  also  his  songs.  The  most 
characteristic  traits  of  his  music  are  rather  personal 
than  national,  and  in  the  variety  of  forms  which  he  has 
essayed  and  in  his  cultivation  of  both  abstract  and 
programme  music  he  is  decidedly  cosmopolitan.  He  has 
an  affluent  gift  of  melody,  great  boldness  and  resource 
in  harmony  and  is  one  of  the  greatest  of  the  masters 
of  orchestration.  His  numerous  operas  are  not  known 
outside  of  Bohemia  —  operas  in  the  Eastern  languages 
have  so  far  been  forced  to  pay  the  penalty  of  local  re- 
striction, —  but  his  symphonies,  chamber  works  and 
choral  compositions  have  excited  general  admiration. 
To  his  several  years'  residence  in  America  are  due  his 
symphony,  quintet  and  quartet  on  themes  suggested 
by  the  plantation  songs  of  the  Southern  negroes. 
Dvorak's  belief  that  in  this  folk  song  was  the  founda- 
tion for  a  distinctively  American  school  has  not  been 
accepted,  and  the  works  in  question  are  considered 
more  ingenious  than  convincing.  Among  his  choral 
works  on  a  large  scale  his  noble  "Stabat  Mater,"  the 
"  Requiem  "  and  "  The  Spectre's  Bride  "  have  found 
much  favor  at  musical  festivals. 

Famous  Composers  and  their  Works,  series  i;  Mason,  From  Grieg  to 
Brahms;  Hadow,  Studies  in  Modern  Music;  Elson,  Modern  Com- 
posers of  Europe.  Unfavorable  judgment  by  Runciman,  Old  Scores 
and  New  Readings. 

Some  of  the  most  delightful  music  of  recent  days 
has  come  from  Scandinavia,  —  Norway,  Sweden  and 
Denmark.  The  northern  folk  songs  are  of  a  peculiar 
and  exquisite  charm,  and  they  have  tinged  all  the  work 
of  the  Scandinavian  composers  more  or  less,  particu- 


IN  RUSSIA,  BOHEMIA  AND  SCANDINAVIA  377 


larly  since  the  European  romantic  movement  threw  the 
attention  of  the  art  world  back  to  characteristic  national 
subjects  and  racial  feeling. 

By  Scandinavian  music  we  find  that  we  commonly 
mean  Norwegian,  for  in  music,  both  popular  and  artis- 
tic, Norway  far  excels  Denmark  and  Sweden.  The 
composers  that  stand  as  the  chief  representatives  of 
Scandinavian  music  are  the  Norwegians  Grieg,  Kjerulf, 
Svendsen  and  Sinding. 

One  of  the  most  beloved  of  modern  composers  is 
Eduard  Grieg  (1843-  ).  He  was  educated  at  the 
Leipzig  Conservatory,  but  after  leaving  that  institution 
in  1862  he  turned  his  attention  to  the  music,  literature 
and  folk  lore  of  his  native  land.  In  spite  of  frequent 
visits  to  other  countries,  Grieg  has  retained  his  residence 
in  Norway,  devoting  himself,  in  addition  to  composition, 
to  promoting  the  musical  interests  of  his  people.  As 
a  composer  his  reputation  chiefly  rests  upon  his  short, 
characteristic  piano  pieces  and  his  songs,  although  his 
sonatas  for  piano  and  violin,  piano  concerto  and  his 
orchestral  suites  illustrating  Ibsen's  "Peer  Gynt," 
are  hardly  less  known  and  admired.  As  a  musical 
miniature  painter  he  has  hardly  had  an  equal  since 
Schumann.  He  cultivates  a  peculiarly  weird  and  vague 
kind  of  harmony  and  tonality,  adopts  the  forms  and 
rhythms  of  popular  dances,  and  knows  how  to  spread 
over  his  work  an  atmosphere  of  mystery  and  melancholy 
which  serves  to  bring  up  associations  with  gloomy  fjords, 
lonely  shores  and  mountains,  with  their  attendant  le- 
gends of  strange  spirits  of  earth  and  sea.  Although  in 
this  style  Grieg  finds  a  limited  field,  yet  he  has  devel- 


378    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


oped  it  with  such  charm  of  melody  and  harmony,  such 
sweetness,  tenderness  and  genuine  feeling,  that  the 
whole  world  has  been  touched  by  its  pathos  and  truth. 
The  secret  is  that  Grieg's  music  is  no  mere  imitation  of 
national  strains,  but  a  natural  mode  of  expressing  him- 
self as  an  original  artist  as  well  as  a  man  of  the  people. 

Halfdan  Kjerulf  (1815-1868)  is  akin  to  Grieg  in  the 
qualities  above  mentioned,  and  not  unworthy  of  com- 
parison with  him.  Johann  Svendsen  (1840-  )  and  Chris- 
tian Sinding  (1856-  )  are  less  conspicuously  national  in 
style,  in  spite  of  their  frequent  employment  of  native 
rhythms  and  melodic  turns.  They  have  both  done 
strong  work  in  orchestral  and  chamber  music. 

Grieg  has  the  lion's  share  of  the  comparatively  small  amount  of 
commentary  in  English  on  the  Scandinavian  composers.  For  the 
school  in  general,  Famous  Composers  and  their  Works,  series  i ; 
Elson,  Modern  Composers  of  Europe.  For  Grieg,  Famous  Composers, 
and  Mason,  From  Grieg  to  Brahms. 


XLIII 


RECENT  MUSIC  IN  ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA 

Musical  culture  among  the  English-speaking  nations 
was  never  in  so  vigorous  a  condition  as  at  the  present 
day.  The  appreciation  of  what  is  best  in  musical  art  is 
extending  among  the  masses  of  the  people;  musical 
instruction  is  recognized  as  a  necessary  branch  of  edu- 
cation ;  the  methods  of  this  instruction  are  being  estab- 
lished on  a  thoroughly  scientific  basis ;  through  schools, 
trained  private  teachers,  societies  and  an  expanding 
concert  system  music  is  rapidly  permeating  the  popular 
life.  The  effect  of  this  widening  and  deepening  cul- 
ture upon  musical  production  cannot  yet  be  confidently 
predicted,  but  it  is  certain  that  the  value  as  well  as 
the  amount  of  original  creation  has  increased  in  a  very 
notable  degree  in  recent  years.  Groups  of  composers 
in  both  England  and  America  have  contributed  works 
which  reveal  a  complete  mastery  of  all  the  technical 
means  of  expression,  and  in  many  instances  a  decided 
individuality.  In  England  the  public  insistence  upon 
a  continuation  of  the  ideals  and  methods  of  Handel 
and  Mendelssohn  put  composers  for  many  years  under 
a  bondage  that  made  progress  impossible.  The  public 
refused  a  fair  hearing  to  the  claims  of  the  new  romantic 
school  which  was  revolutionizing  musical  thought  and 
production  upon  the  continent,  took  its  stand  upon  the 


380    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  ML  SIC 


classic  traditions  in  instrumental  music,  discouraged 
opera  and  made  religious  music,  in  the  Anglican 
anthem  and  the  Handel -Mendelssohn  oratorio,  its  para- 
mount interest.  In  spite  of  the  dignity  and  morally 
elevating  influence  of  English  religious  music  it  has  not 
only  contained  few  elements  of  progress  in  itself,  but 
the  excessive  deference  paid  to  it  has  discouraged  those 
tendencies  in  which  real  hope  of  advancement  lies. 
England  has  therefore  done  nothing  of  historic  value 
in  opera,  symphony  or  piano  music.  Its  composers, 
up  to  a  very  recent  period  at  least,  have  been  going 
around  in  a  circle,  producing  oratorios,  cantatas  and 
church  pieces  in  almost  incalculable  quantities,  to  the 
edification  of  the  faithful  and  the  indifference  of  the 
rest  of  the  world.  There  have  been  of  late  signs  of 
a  better  time.  There  has  been  what  Mr.  Fuller 
Maitland  calls  with  much  reason  a  Renaissance,  and 
a  small  cluster  of  composers,  whose  activity  chiefly 
covers  the  past  quarter  of  a  century,  has  challenged 
the  attention  of  the  musical  world  at  large,  and  brought 
an  honor  upon  English  music  which  it  has  not  enjoyed 
since  the  days  of  Henry  Purcell.  These  men  are  still 
so  much  under  the  necessity  of  catering  to  English 
taste  that  a  very  heavy  share  of  their  work  is  con- 
fined to  oratorio  and  cantata  —  for  the  provincial  festi- 
val and  the  choral  society  still  dominate  English 
musical  interest  —  but  they  have  felt  the  trend  of  the 
age  and  have  imparted  to  the  time-honored  forms  they 
use  a  vivacity,  a  harmonic  richness  and  a  splendor  of 
orchestral  color  that  not  only  give  these  works  a 
strength  and  individual  flavor  unknown  to  their  prede- 


RECENT  MUSIC  D5  ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA  38l 


cessors,  but  also  reveal  a  dramatic  and  instrumental 
talent  that  promises  much  when  the  conditions  are 
favorable  to  greater  freedom  in  subject  and  form.  It 
is  to  be  noticed  that  the  British  "  Renaissance  "  is  not 
rooted  in  the  English,  Scotch,  Irish  and  Welsh  folk 
music,  and  here  we  see  a  marked  distinction  between 
this  revival  and  the  contemporary  movements  among 
the  Slavs,  Czechs  and  Scandinavians.  This  may  be 
held  as  militating  against  originality  and  inherent  force 
in  this  new  English  work.  This  is,  however,  not  a 
self-evident  conclusion,  for  although  nationality  seems 
just  now  to  be  the  cry  among  the  ardent  young  leaders 
of  continental  music,  yet  something  more  than  the  ex- 
ploiting of  indigenous  material  is  required  to  give  power 
and  universality  to  works  of  art. 

The  group  of  able  men  who  sprang  rather  suddenly, 
as  it  would  seem,  out  of  the  dead  level  of  medioc- 
rity that  had  existed  for  one  hundred  and  fifty  years, 
includes  Arthur  Seymour  Sullivan,  Alexander  Camp- 
bell Mackenzie,  Charles  Villiers  Stanford,  Frederick 
Hymen  Cowen,  Charles  Hubert  Hastings  Parry  and 
Edward  Elgar.  There  are  others  hardly  less  worthy 
of  conspicuous  mention,  such  as  Samuel  Coleridge- 
Taylor,  Arthur  Goring  Thomas,  Hamish  McCunn 
and  Edward  German. 

The  fame  of  Arthur  Seymour  Sullivan  (1842- 
1900)  rests  upon  his  clever  and  delightful  comic 
operettas,  of  which  "Trial  by  Jury,"  "Pinafore," 
"Patience,"  "The  Pirates  of  Penzance"  and  "The 
Mikado  "  have  won  their  composer  international  praise. 
It  is  by  no  means  certain,  however,  that  their  ex- 


382    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


traordinary  popularity  is  not  to  be  attributed  to  the 
librettist,  W.  S.  Gilbert,  even  more  than  to  the  musi- 
cal partner,  for  the  novel  vein  of  topsy-turvy  humor 
and  genial  satire  gives  these  texts  value  as  literature. 

Alexander  Campbell  Mackenzie  (1847-  ),  born 
in  Edinburgh,  has  produced  notable  work  in  oratorio, 
ode,  cantata,  opera,  compositions  for  orchestra,  violin 
and  piano.  Charles  Villiers  Stanford  (1852-  ) 
is  of  Irish  birth;  his  best  work  is  in  vocal  music, 
including  compositions  for  the  church,  songs,  choral 
ballads  (in  which  he  has  shown  a  preference  for  Tenny- 
son's poetry)  and  dramatic  works.  He  has  also  written 
symphonies  and  of  course  oratorios.  Especial  interest 
attaches  to  his  arrangements  of  Irish  national  melodies. 
Mr.  Stanford  has  also  contributed  interesting  articles 
to  the  English  reviews.  Frederick  Hymen  Cowen 
(1852-  )  is  known  favorably  on  the  continent  as  well 
as  at  home  for  his  romantic  "Scandinavian  symphony," 
one  of  the  few  instances  in  which  English  orchestral 
work  has  won  consideration  abroad.  Five  other  sym- 
phonies have  followed,  besides  suites  in  which  fairy  sub- 
jects have  been  treated  with  especial  grace.  The 
composer  of  routine  is  also  shown  in  his  operas, 
oratorios  and  songs.  Charles  Hubert  Hastings 
Parry  (1848-  )  is,  in  the  view  of  many,  the  ablest 
of  this  company,  considered  in  his  versatile  capacity 
as  composer,  teacher,  historian  and  critic.  He  is  of 
the  highest  type  of  the  university  man  in  music,  and 
in  educated  circles  his  scholarly  attainments  give  him  a 
regard  which  no  other  English  musician  enjoys  in  quite 
equal  measure.    His  most  important  compositions  in- 


RECENT  MUSIC  IN  ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA  383 


elude  oratorios,  cantatas,  odes,  orchestral  and  chamber 
works,  incidental  music  to  dramatic  pieces  and  songs. 
His  contributions  to  the  history  and  criticism  of  music, 
particularly  The  Evolution  of  the  Art  of  Music,  the  third 
volume  of  the  Oxford  History  of  Music  and  articles  in 
Grove's  Dictionary,  by  virtue  of  their  comprehensive 
and  accurate  knowledge,  philosophic  grasp  and  clearness 
and  force  of  style,  are  in  the  very  front  rank  of  their 
kind. 

Within  a  few  years  the  very  brilliant  and  challeng- 
ing work  of  Edward  Elgar  (1857-  )  has  made  him 
for  the  time  being  one  of  the  most  talked-of  com- 
posers of  the  day.  His  setting  in  oratorio  form  of 
Cardinal  Newman's  "  Dream  of  Gerontius "  has  been 
the  reigning  sensation  in  circles  devoted  to  choral 
music.  Its  intense  dramatic  contrasts  and  the  empha- 
sis upon  the  most  advanced  treatment  of  the  orchestra 
as  the  chief  means  of  effect  seem  in  the  minds  of  many 
to  announce  a  new  epoch  in  the  history  of  the  oratorio. 
In  this  work,  as  in  "The  Apostles,"  the  Wagnerian  in- 
fluence appears,  even  to  the  systematic  use  of  leading- 
motives.  His  few  orchestral  compositions  and  his  songs, 
both  for  mixed  voices  and  for  solo,  indicate  a  technical 
knowledge  of  the  highest  order  in  counterpoint  and 
orchestration,  as  well  as  a  prolific  vein  of  melody. 

The  progress  of  English  music  in  the  past  few  decades  and  the 
achievements  of  its  leading  representatives  have  been  summed  up 
in  a  very  interesting  way,  albeit  with  some  extravagant  claims,  by 
J.  A.  Fuller  Maitland  in  English  Music  in  the  Nineteenth  Century. 
See  also  Willeby,  Masters  of  English  Music ;  Elson,  Modern  Com- 
posers of  Europe,  and  articles  in  Famous  Composers  and  their  Works, 


384    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


series  i,  and  in  Grove's  Dictionary.  Elgar's  oratorio  work  is  di» 
cussed  in  a  lucid  way  by  Henderson  in  Modern  Musical  Drift. 

No  disparagement  of  the  excellent  and  promising 
work  of  recent  American  musicians  will  be  implied  if 
they  receive  but  scanty  space  in  a  volume  whose  aim  is 
to  trace  the  continued  evolution  of  musical  forms  and 
styles.  From  the  world -historic  point  of  view  it  can- 
not be  maintained  that  American  composition  has  ad- 
vanced the  development  of  the  art,  enlarged  its  field  of 
expression  or  propounded  new  problems.  Neither,  it 
may  be  said,  has  English  composition  done  this,  but  in 
a  book  intended  for  American  students,  there  is  no 
need  of  characterizing  or  even  summarizing  the  work 
of  composers  whose  names  and  achievements  are  al- 
ready familiar  to  all  who  are  concerned  with  musical 
affairs.  These  achievements,  although  honorable,  do 
not  bulk  very  large,  nor  is  their  originality  striking. 
American  music  began  under  English  influences  and 
has  continued  under  those  of  Germany.  It  is  eclectic 
and  modest,  even  though  it  is  not  slavishly  imitative. 
There  is  even  individuality,  as  in  the  deeply  expressive 
piano  pieces  and  songs  of  Edward  MacDowell.  There 
is  no  native  music,  no  national  traditions  on  which  to 
build.  It  is  noticeable  that  nothing  of  importance  has 
been  produced  in  opera  or  symphony,  and  no  people 
can  hold  a  high  standing  among  the  musical  nations 
that  has  not  succeeded  in  one  or  both  of  these  forms. 

There  is  no  reason  for  discouragement  in  these  facts. 
Artistic  music  in  America  is  still  very  young.  It  is 
worthy  of  note  that  every  one  of  the  composers  who 


RECENT  MUSIC  IN  ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA  385 


exemplify  the  best  in  American  musical  achievement 
is  still  living.  A  movement  that  virtually  begins  with 
such  men  as  Paine,  Buck,  MacDowell,  Parker,  Chad- 
wick,  Foote,  Huss,  Gleason,  Kelly  and  the  others  that 
are  worthy  to  rank  with  them,  is  one  that  inspires  con- 
fidence. The  powerful  upward  and  outward  movement 
in  musical  education ,  the  enlarging  concert  system,  the 
multiplication  of  musical  societies  and  clubs,  the  in- 
creasing rewards  of  musical  effort,  the  widening  oppor- 
tunities and  rising  dignity  of  music  as  a  profession,  all 
point  hopefully  to  the  time  when  America,  through  its 
musical  creation,  will  repay  the  debt  she  owes  to  her 
musical  fatherlands. 

In  spite  of  all  encouragements  the  degradation  of 
musical  taste  among  large  sections  of  the  people,  indeed 
among  the  vast  majority,  is  a  cause  for  serious  concern. 
The  newspaper  that  recently  declared  that  on  the  whole 
musical  taste  in  this  country  is  lower  than  it  was  thirty 
years  ago,  although  certainly  in  error,  had  many  facts 
on  which  to  base  its  gloomy  opinion.  No  more  forcible 
conclusion  could  be  given  to  this  book  than  to  remind 
students  of  music  that  the  future  of  their  art,  for  good 
or  ill,  is  in  their  hands.  It  is  their  duty  not  only  to 
enlarge  their  knowledge  and  discipline  and  confirm  their 
taste  by  every  means  in  their  power,  but  also  to  use 
their  ability  and  influence  unselfishly  for  the  extension 
of  knowledge  and  appreciation  among  the  people.  As 
an  aid  in  fortifying  such  resolve  let  everyone  study  the 
noble  life  of  Theodore  Thomas.  The  honor  which  his 
memory  now  receives  will  be  the  lot  in  some  degree  of 
all  who  follow  his  example. 

25 


386    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


Mr.  L.  C.  Elson,  in  his  History  of  American  Music,  has  per- 
formed a  difficult  and  delicate  task  with  very  great  success,  and 
his  book  will  long  remain  the  standard  work  on  the  subject. 
Hughes'  Contemporary  American  Composers,  is  a  vivacious  and  gen- 
erally just  estimate  of  American  compositions.  See  also  Mathews, 
A  Hundred  Years  of  Music  in  A  merica ;  Famous  Composers  and  their 
Works,  series  i;  summary  by  Krehbiel  in  appendix  to  Lavignac's 
Music  and  Musicians,  edition  of  1905.  An  important  book  is 
Theodore  Thomas,  an  Autobiography,  ed.  by  Upton.  The  second 
volume  contains  Mr.  Thomas'  complete  programmes.  There  is  an 
extensive  bibliography  in  Elson 's  history. 

A  few  very  valuable  books  not  previously  cited  are 
added  here  on  account  of  their  usefulness  for  general 
reference. 

Krehbiel,  How  to  Listen  to  Music. 

Henderson,  What  is  Good  Music  ? 

Lavignac,  Musical  Education. 

Program  Books  of  the  Boston  Symphony  Orchestra, 
edited  by  Philip  Hale;  published  annually  in  bound 
volumes  by  C.  A.  Ellis. 

Riemann,  Dictionary  of  Music,  translated  by  Shedlock. 

Baker,  Biographical  Dictionary  of  Musicians. 

The  Musical  Guide,  edited  by  Rupert  Hughes. 

Lavignac's  Music  and  Musicians,  although  already 
mentioned,  is  entitled  to  special  recommendation. 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  LIST 


[The  books  marked  with  a  star  are,  in  the  opinion  of  the  author,  of 
special  value.] 

Aldrich  (Richard).    A  Guide  to  "Parsifal."  Boston, 
Ditson,  1904. 

*Ambros  (A.  W.).    The  Boundaries  of  Music  and  Poetry. 

Tr.  by  Cornell.    New  York,  Schirmer,  1893. 
*Annesley  (Charles).    The  Standard  Opera  Glass.  New 

York,  Brentano's. 
Apthorp  (W.  F.).    Musicians  and  Music  Lovers.  New 

York,  Scribner,  1897. 
*  .    The  Opera,  Past  and  Present.   New  York,  Scribner, 

1901. 

Bach  (A.  B.).    The  Art  Ballad :  Loewe  and  Schubert. 

Edinburgh,  Blackwood,  1891. 
*Baker  (Theodore).    A  Biographical  Dictionary  of  Musi- 
cians.   New  York,  Schirmer,  1900. 
Barrett  (W.  A.).    English  Glee  and  Madrigal  Writers. 

London,  Reeves,  1877. 
Beethoven  (Ludwig  van).   Letters.   Tr.  by  Lady  Wallace. 

2  vols.     New  York,  Hurd  &  Houghton,  1867.  The 

same  is  published  by  Ditson,  Boston. 
Benedict  (Julius).    Weber.     (Great   Musicians  series.) 

New  York,  Scribner,  1881. 
Berlioz  (Hector).    Autobiography.    Tr.  by  Rachel  and 

Eleanor  Holmes.    2  vols.    London,  Macmillan,  1884. 
 .    Letters.   Preceded  by  a  biography  by  Bernard.  Tr. 

by  Dunstan.    2  vols.    London,  Remington,  1882. 


388    THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 


Berlioz  (Hector).  Selections  from  his  Letters  and  ^Es- 
thetic, Humorous  and  Satirical  Writings.  Tr.  and 
preceded  by  a  biographical  sketch  by  Apthorp.  New 
York,  Holt,  1879. 
*Bie  (Oscar).  History  of  the  Pianoforte  and  Pianoforte 
Players.  Tr.  by  Kellett  and  Naylor.  New  York, 
Dutton,  1899. 

Brooks  (H.  M.).  Olden  Time  Music.  Boston,  Ticknor, 
1888. 

Chamberlain  (H.  S.).  Richard  Wagner.  Tr.  by  Hight. 
Two  editions,  one  illustrated,  one  popular.  London, 
Dent,  1897. 

Chappell  (William).  Old  English  Popular  Music.  2  vols. 
London,  Chappell.    New  York,  Novello,  1893. 

 .    The  History  of  Music.    London,  Chappell,  1874. 

Chorley  (H.  F.).    Music  and  Manners  in  France  and  Ger- 
many.   3  vols.    London,  Longmans,  1841. 
Cummings  (W.  H.).    Purcell.    (Great  Musicians  series.) 
London,  Low,  1881. 
*Curwen  (J.  S.).     Studies  in  Worship  Music.     2  vols. 
London,  Curwen,  1888. 
Davey  (Henry).     History  of,  English  Music.  London, 
Curwen,  1895. 

Deiters  (Hermann).  Johannes  Brahms.  Tr.  by  Rosa  New- 
march.    London,  Unwin,  1888. 

Devrient  (Eduard).  My  Recollections  of  Felix  Mendels- 
sohn-Bartholdy.  Tr.  by  Natalia  Macfarren.  London, 
Bentley,  1869. 

Dickinson  (Edward).   Music  in  the  History  of  the  Western 

Church.    New  York,  Scribner,  1902. 
Dippold  (G.  T.).    Richard  Wagner's  Poem:   "  The  Ring 

of  the  Nibelung."    New  York,  Holt,  1888. 
Edwards  (H.  S.).    The  Prima  Donna.    2  vols.  London, 

Remington,  1888. 
Ehlert  (Louis).    From  the  Tone  World.    Tr.  by  Helen 

Tretbar.    New  York,  C.  F.  Tretbar,  1885. 


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389 


Ellis  (W.  A.).  18-49  :  A  Vindication.  London,  Paul, 
1892. 

*Elson  (Arthur).  Modern  Composers  of  Europe.  Boston, 
Page,  1905. 

Elson  (L.  C).  Curiosities  of  Music.  Boston,  Ditson, 
1880. 

*  .   History  of  American  Music.    New  York,  Macmillan, 

1904. 

 .  History  of  German  Song.  Boston,  X.  E.  Conserva- 
tory of  Music,  1888. 

 .    Editor  and  Author.    See  Famous  Composers  and 

their  Works,  series  ii. 

Engel  (Carl).  Musical  Instruments.  (South  Kensington 
Art  Handbooks.)    London.  Chapman,  1875. 

 .    Kesearches  into  the  Early  History  of  the  Violin 

Family.    Loudon.  Xovello,  1883. 

 .    The  Music  of  the  Most  Ancient  Nations.  London, 

Murray,  186-1. 

*Famous  Composers  and  their  "Works.  Series  i.  3  vols., 
including  one  volume  of  musical  illustrations.  Ed. 
by  Paine  (J.  K.),  Thomas  (Theodore)  and  Klauser 
(Karl).    Boston,  J.  B.  Millet  Co.,  1891. 

*  .    Series  ii.    3  vols.,  including  one  volume  of  musical 

illustrations.  Elson  (L.  C.)  and  Hale  (Philip),  authors 
and  editors.    Boston,  J.  B.  Millet  Co.,  1900. 

Fay  (Amy).  Music  Study  in  Germany.  Chicago,  Jansen 
&  McClurg,  1881. 

Ferris  (G.  T.).  Great  Singers.  2  vols.  Xew  York, 
Appleton,  1893. 

 .  Great  Violinists  and  Pianists.  Xew  York,  Apple- 
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INDEX 


INDEX 


A 

Adam,  300. 

Additional  accompaniments,  139. 
"Aula,"  360,  361. 
"  Alceste,"  Preface  to,  148. 
Allegri,  47. 

"  Also  sprach  Zarathustra,"  339. 
Amati,  78. 

Ambrose,  St.,  17,  24. 
Anerios,  The.  43. 

Anglican  church,  Music  of  the,  56. 
Anthem,  Anglican,  59. 
Antiphonal  singing  in  the  early 

church,  16,  17. 
Antiphonary,  23. 
Arcadelt,  40. 

Aria,  93  ;  in  Bach's  works,  125. 
Auber,  299,  301. 
Augustine,  St.,  17. 

B 

Bach,  C.  P.  E.,  87,  212. 

Bach,  J.  S.,  114,  119  et  seq.,  139, 

233,  236,  349. 
Balakirev,  371. 
'  Ballad,  208. 
Ballet,  100. 
Bargiel,  346. 
Bayreuth,  312. 
Beethoven,  171  et  seq. 
Bellini,  290. 
Bennett,  241. 
Berger,  217,  234. 
Berlioz,  239,  260  et  seq. 
Beza,  61. 
Bizet,  354. 


Boieldieu,  298. 
Boito,  363. 
Bononcini,  106. 
Borodin,  371,  372. 
Bortniansky,  369. 
Brahms,  253,  331. 
Breviary,  20. 
Brinchoys,  40. 
Bruch,  336. 
Bruckner,  338. 
Bruneau,  356. 
Buck,  385. 
Bull,  83. 
Bungert,  345. 
Byrd,  83. 

c 

Caccini,  67,  93. 
Caldara,  106. 
Cambert,  101. 

Cantata,  Secular,  92  ;  church,  117; 

in  Bach's  works,  126. 
Cantus  firmus,  31,  33,  39. 
Carissimi,  92. 
"  Carmen,"  354,  364. 
Cassation,  see  Divertimento. 
Cavaliere,  68. 

"  Cavalleria  Rusticana,"  364. 

Cavalli,  91,  101. 

Chabrier,  356. 

Chad  wick,  385. 

Chambonnieres,  84. 

Chant,  Anglican,  58. 

Chant,  Gregorian,  22,  29.    See  also 

Plain  Song. 
Charpentier,  356. 
Cherubini,  295. 


404 


INDEX 


Chopin,  243  et  seg. 

Chorale,  Lutheran,  50 ;  its  origin, 

53,  120,  123. 
Chorale  prelude,  123. 
Chorallied,  55. 
Chouquet,  quoted,  300. 
Christians,  Singing  among  the  early, 

15,  25. 
"Christus,"  Liszt's,  281. 
Cimarosa,  98,  106. 
Clari,  106. 
Clavichord,  82. 
Clemens  non  Papa,  40. 
Clementi,  217. 
Coleridge-Taylor,  381. 
Colonne,  349. 

Common  Prayer,  Book  of,  57. 
Concerto  da  camera,  80. 
Concerto  grosso,  89. 
Conducting,    Modern  orchestral, 

282. 

Congregational  singing,  German, 

51  ;  English  and  American,  60. 
Corelli,  81. 

Counterpoint,  32,  33,  38. 
Couperin,  84. 
Cowen,  382. 
Ceramer,  217. 
"  Creation,  The,"  160. 
Cremona,  78. 
Cruder,  114. 
Cui,  371. 

Cyprian  de  Eore,  47. 
Czerny,  218,  273. 

D 

"Dafne,"  67. 

"  Damnation  de  Faust."  267. 
Dance,  Early  connection  of  music 

and,  3,  4. 
"  Dante  "  symphony,  279. 
Dargomizhsky,  370. 
Darwin's  theory  of  the  origin  of 

music,  2. 
Dauvergne,  143. 
Debussy,  356. 


Delibes,  356. 

Diaphony,  30. 

D'Indy,  356. 

Discant,  31. 

Dittersdorf,  186. 

Divertimento,  157. 

"Don  Giovanni,"  167,  293,  321. 

Donizetti,  290. 

"  Don  Juan  "  (Strauss),  339. 

Draesecke,  346. 

"  Dream  of  Gerontius,  The,"  383. 

Dubois,  349. 

Dufay,  40. 

Duni,  143. 

Dunstable,  35. 

Dvorak,  253,  375. 

E 

Eccard,  55. 

Egyptian  music,  7. 

Ehlert,  quoted,  242. 

"  Ein  Heldenleben,"  340. 

Elgar,  383. 

"  Elijah,"  234,  237. 

Endless  melody,  321. 

Etude,  215. 

"  Euryanthe,"  191,  194,  293,  321. 
F 

"Falstaff,"  359,  361. 
Faure,  356. 
"  Faust,"  351. 
"  Faust  "  symphony,  279. 
Faux-bourdon,  33 
"Fidelio,"  182,  293. 
Field,  217. 
Finale,  Opera,  98. 
Finck,  40. 

Folk  music,  4  ;  in  the  Middle  Ages, 

35  ;  in  Austria,  158. 
Folk  song,  French,  37 ;  German, 

199;    Russian,   Bohemian  and 

Scandinavian,  366. 
Foote,  385. 
Franck,  349,  358. 


INDEX 


405 


Franco  of  Cologne,  34. 
Franco  of  Paris,  34. 
Frank.  114. 
Franz,  230. 

"Freisehiitz,  Der,"  191,  193,  194, 

293,  324. 
Frescobaldi.  75. 

Fugue,  75;  origin  and  development 
of,  123;  in  Bach's  works,  123, 
129. 

G 

Gabrieli,  Andrea,  47,  74. 

Gabrieli,  Giovanni,  42,  47,  74. 

Gade,  241. 

Gafor,  40. 

Galilei,  67. 

Galuppi,  98,  106. 

German.  381. 

Gevaert.  quoted,  25. 

Geyer,  310. 

Gibbons,  60,  83. 

Gigout,  349. 

Giordano,  365. 

Glarean.  40.  70. 

Glazounov,  372. 

Gleason,  3S5. 

Glinka.  369. 

Glossolalia.  15. 

Gluck.  11,  107,  146  et  seq. 

Godard,  356. 

Goetz.  344. 

Goldmark,  344. 

Gombert,  40. 

Goudimel,  40. 

Gounod,  349,  351. 

Gradual,  23. 

Graun.  107. 

Greeks.  Music  of  the.  9,  30. 
Gregorian  chant,  see  Chant,  Gre- 
gorian. 

Gregorian  modes,  see  Modes. 
Gregory  I.,  24. 
G  retry,  144. 
Grieg",  377. 
Guarneri,  78. 


Guido  of  Arezzo.  34. 
Guillaume  de  Mechault,  35. 
"  Guillaume  Tell,"  300. 
Guilmant,  349. 

H 

Hale,  quoted,  364. 

Halevy,  305. 

Hammerschmidt,  114. 

Handel.  92, 107,  126, 131  et  seq.,  160, 

235,  236. 
"  Hansel  und  Gretel,"  344. 
Harmony,  First  theory  of  modern, 

70. 

"  Harold  en  Italie,"  267. 

Harpsichord,  82. 

Hasse,  107. 

Hassler,  55. 

Hauptmann.  240. 

Hausegger,  346. 

Haydn,  153  et  seq.,  165. 

Hebrews,  Music  among  the  ancient, 

Helmore,  quoted,  58. 

Henderson,  quoted,  341. 

Herold,  300. 

Herzogenburg,  346. 

Hiller,  Ferdinand,  241. 

Hiller,  J.  A.,  186. 

Hobrecht,  40. 

Hofhaimer,  40. 

Hofmann,  346. 

"  Huguenots,  Les,"  305. 

Hummel.  217. 

Humperdinck.  344. 

Huneker.  quoted,  341. 

Hungarian  rhapsodies,  Liszt's,  277. 

Huss,  385. 

Hymnody,  Early  Christian,  15. 
I 

Imitation,  32. 

Instruments,  Primitive.  3  ;  Hebrew, 
S  ;  Greek,  12  ;  mediaeval,  36. 


406 


INDEX 


"  Iphigenie  en  Tauride,"  149. 
Isaak,  40. 

J 

Jahn,  quoted,  104,  157. 
Johannes  de  Muris,  35. 
Jommelli,  106. 
Josquin  des  Pres,  40. 

K 

Kalkbrenner,  218. 
Reiser,  116. 
Kelly,  385. 
Kirchner,  346. 
Kjerulf,  378. 
Klughardt,  345. 
Kreutzer,  196. 
Kuhnau,  86. 

L 

Lalo,  355. 
Lamoureux,  349. 
Lassus,  42,  48. 
Leading-motives,  323. 
Legrenzi,  106. 
Leo,  106. 
Leoncavallo,  365. 
Lesueur,  262. 
Lied,  198,  201. 
"  Life  for  the  Tsar,"  369. 
Liszt,  Cosima,  312. 
Liszt,  Franz,  219,  271  et  seq.,  311, 
333. 

Liturgies,  Earliest  Christian,  14. 

Liturgy,  Anglican,  57. 

Liturgy,  Catholic,  19. 

Loewe,  209. 

Logroscino,  106. 

"  Lohengrin,"  191,  315. 

Lortzing,  196. 

Lotti,  106. 

Ludwig  II.,  312. 

Lully,  102,  142,  146. 


Lute,  75. 

Luther,  51,  52,  54. 

M 

MacDowell,  384. 
Mackenzie,  382. 
Madrigal,  65. 
Mahler,  346. 
Maitland,  quoted,  128. 
Marbecke,  58. 

"  Marcellus,  Mass  of  Pope/*  46. 
Marchettus,  35. 
Marenzio,  43. 
Marot,  61. 
Marschner,  196. 
"  Masaniello,"  301. 
Mascagni,  364. 
Masque,  132. 

Mass  (form  of  worship),  19,  52. 

Mass  (musical  composition),  21,  95. 

Massenet,  355. 

Mastersingers,  36. 

Mattheson,  116. 

Mazurka,  246. 

McCunn,  381. 

Mees,  quoted,  45. 

Mehul,  297. 

"  Meistersinger,  Die,"  316. 
"  Melody,"    Wagner's  u  endless," 
321. 

Mendelssohn,  128,  232  et  seq. 
Merian,  quoted,  169,  199,  305. 
Merulo,47,  74. 
Metastasio,  108. 
Meyerbeer,  302. 
Minnesingers,  36. 
Missal,  20. 

Modes,  Gregorian,  26,  71. 
Monsigny,  144. 
Monteverde,  90. 
"  Mors  et  Vita,"  352. 
Moscheles,  218,  234. 
Moussorgsky,  371. 
Mozart,  98,  146,  162  et  seq. 
"  Muette  de  Portici,  La,"  301. 
Miiller,  186. 


INDEX 


407 


N 

Naninis,  The,  43. 

"  Neo-Russian  "  school,  370. 

Netherland  school,  34,  37,  38,  65. 

Neumae,  26. 

Nicode,  346. 

Notation,  Mediaeval,  26. 

Notker  Balbulus,  28. 

"Nozze  di  Figaro,  Le,"  167,  293. 

O 

"  Oberon,"  192,  193,  194. 
Ockenheim,  see  Okeghem. 
Ode  symphony,  266. 
Odington,  34. 
Offenbach,  356. 
Okeghem,  40. 

Opera,  Origin  of,  66 ;  in1  Venice, 
91  ;  in  Naples,  94 ;  two  classes 
of,  96  ;  early,  in  France,  100  et 
seq.,  146;  opera  seria,  its  char- 
acter, 105,  107;  German  roman- 
tic, 185  ;  contending  forces  in, 
283  et  seq.,  320  ;  later  Italian,  286 
et  seq. ;  later  French,  293  et  seq. ; 
Wagner's  criticism  of,  320,  321. 

Opera  buff  a,  96  et  seq.,  143. 

Opera-comique,  142  et  seq.,  294. 

Oratorio,  Origin  of,  68,  117;  idea 
of,  as  an  art  form,  134  et  seq. 

Orchestration  in  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, 139 ;  of  Haydn  and  later, 
158;  of  Beethoven,  178;  of 
Weber,  193;  modern,  255;  of 
Berlioz,  264  ;  of  Wagner,  327. 

"  Orfeo  ed  Euridice,"  148. 

Organ,  55,  72,  73  et  seq. ;  early: 
organ  music,  74  ;  in  Bach's  works, 
120,  122  et  seq. 

Organum,  30. 

Origin  of  music,  1. 

"  Otello,"  361. 

Overture,  Early  Italian,  94;  early 
French,  102. 


P 

Paganini,  273. 
Paine,  385. 
Paisiello,  98,  106. 
Palestrina,  39,  42,  et  seq. 
Parker,  385. 
Parry,  382. 
"Parsifal,"  317. 
Pasdeloup,  349. 

"Passion  according  to  St.  Mat- 
thew," 127. 

Passion  music,  Origin  and  develop- 
ment of,  1 1 5  et  seq. 

Patronage,  Musical,  in  the  eigh- 
teenth century,  159. 

Pergolese,  98,  106. 

Peri,  67. 

Perrin,  101. 

Philidor,  144. 

Phillippe  de  Vitry,  35. 

Pianoforte,  Invention  of  the,  211  ; 
development  of  technic,  214,  275  ; 
construction  of  the,  216. 

Piccinni,  98,  147. 

Pierre  de  la  Rue,  40. 

Pius  X.,  his  decree  concerning 
church  music,  49. 

Plain  Song,  22,  27,  29,  59. 

Plana,  Wilhelmine,  311. 

Polonaise,  246. 

Porpora,  106. 

Programme  music,  184,  251  et  seq., 
278. 

Psalter,  Geneva,  61. 
Puccini,  365. 
Purcell,  60,  133,  138. 
Puritans,  Music  among  the,  61. 

Q 

Quartet,  Origin  of  string,  156. 
R 

Raff,  338. 

Ranieau,  71,  85,  103,  142,  146. 


408 


INDEX 


"  Rappresentatione  di  Anima  e  di 

Corpo 68. 
Recitative,  Origin  of,  67,  125. 
"  Redemption,  The,"  352. 
Reichardt,  186. 
Reinecke,  346. 
Renaissance,  64,  65. 
Requiem  mass,  21  ;  Mozart's,  169. 
Reyer,  356. 
Rheinberger,  337. 
Richter,  240. 
Riemann,  quoted,  69,  70. 
Rimsky-Korsakov,  371,  372. 
"  Ring  des  Nibelungen,  Der,"  315. 
Romans,  Music  among  the,  13. 
Romantic  movement  in  Germany, 

187  ;  in  France,  251,  261. 
Romantic  opera,  190. 
Rosenmiiller,  114. 
Rossini,  286,  287,  300. 
Rousseau,  143. 
Rubinstein,  373. 
"  Ruslan  and  Ludmilla,"  370. 

S 

Sacchini,  106. 

Saint-Saens,  353. 

Sand,  George,  244. 

Scales,  Primitive,  5  ;  Greek,  11» 
12  ;  Gregorian,  see  Modes  ;  mod- 
ern, their  origin,  69. 

Scarlatti,  Alessandro,  94,  106. 

Scarlatti,  Domenico,  86. 

Scenery,  Wagner's,  326. 

Scheldt,  114. 

Schein,  114. 

Schilling,  345. 

Schola  Cantorum,  49. 

Schubert,  185,  186,  199,  241. 

Schumann,  220  et  seq. 

Schiitz,  114  et  seq. 

Senfl,  55. 

Sequence,  27. 

"  Service,"  Anglican,  59. 

Sierov,  370. 

Sinding,  378. 


Singing  in  the  early  Italian  opera, 
93,  108  et  seq. ;  in  the  later  opera, 
291. 

Singspiel,  186. 

Smetana,  375. 

Sonata,  79,  86  etseq.,  171,  179. 
Song,  Definition  of,  200. 
SpenceVs  theory  of  the  origin  of 

music,  2. 
Spinelli,  365. 
Spitta,  quoted,  37. 
Spohr,  185,  186,  195. 
Spontini,  297. 
Stanford,  382. 
St.  Cecilia  society,  48. 
"  St.  Elizabeth,"  281. 
St.  Gall,  Convent  of,  27. 
"  St.  Paul,"  236. 
Stradella,  92. 
Stradivari,  78. 

Strauss,  Johann,  the  elder,  241. 

Strauss,  Johann,  the  younger,  241. 

Strauss,  Richard,  339,  345. 

Suite,  79,  85. 

Sullivan,  381. 

Svendsen,  378. 

Sweelinck,  75. 

Symphonic  poem,  279. 

"  Symphonie  fantastique,"  265. 

Symphony,  Origin  of,  156. 

T 

Tallis,  60,  83. 

"  Tannhauser,"  314. 

Tasca,  365. 

Tchaikovsky,  372. 

Telemann,  116. 

Thalberg,  218. 

Thomas,  Ambroise,  355. 

Thomas,  Arthur  Goring,  381. 

Thomas,  Theodore,  385. 

"  Till      Eulenspiegel's  lustige 

Streiche,"  340. 
Tinctoris,  40. 
Tinel,  349. 

"  Tod  und  Verklanmg,"  339. 


INDEX 


409 


Tourte,  78. 

Trent,  Council  of,  46. 

"Tristan  und  Isolde,"  317. 

Troubadours,  36. 

Tye,  60. 

V 

Vaudeville,  143. 

Venice,  Church  music  of,  47. 

Verdelot,  40. 

Verdi,  290,  339  et  seq. 

Viadana,  71. 

Vinci,  106. 

Viol,  78. 

Violin,  78;  its  early  music,  79. 
Vittoria,  43. 

w 

Wagner,  11,  197,  274,  285,  308  et 
seq.,  347. 


Wallaschek's  theory  of  the  origin 

of  music,  2. 
Walther,  55. 

Waltz,  Origin  of  the,  241. 
Watts,  62. 

Weber,  185,  186,  188  et  seq.;  as 

piano  composer,  194,  218,  239. 
Weingartner,  quoted,  266,  269. 
"Well-tempered  Clavichord,"  129. 
Wesley,  62. 
Widor,  349. 
Wieck,  Clara,  221. 
Wieck,  Friedrich,  220. 
Willaert,  42,  47. 
Wille,  Frau,  311. 
Witt,  48. 

z 

Zarlino,  71. 

"  Zauberflote,  Die,"  168. 
Zelter,  199,  234. 
Zingarelli,  106. 


By    EDWARD  DICKINSON 

Professor  of  the  History  of  Music,  Conservatory  of  Music,  Oberlin  College 


Music  in  the  History  of 
the  Western  Church 

With  an  Introduction  on  Religious  Music  among  Primi- 
tive and  Ancient  Peoples.     Crown  8vo,  $2.50  net. 


CONTENTS 

I.  Primitive  and  Ancient  Religious  Music. 

II.  Ritual  and  Song  in  the  Early  Christian  Church. 

III.  The  Liturgy  of  the  Catholic  Church. 

IV.  The  Ritual  Chant  of  the  Catholic  Church. 
V.  Development  of  Mediaeval  Chorus  Music. 

VI.    The  Modern  Musical  Mass. 
VII.    The  Rise  of  the  Lutheran  Hymnody. 
VIII.    The  Rise  of  the  German  Cantata  and  Passion,  17th 
Century. 

IX.    The  Culmination  of  German   Protestant   Music  — 
J.  S.  Bach. 

X.    The  Musical  System  of  the  Church  of  England. 
XI.    Congregational  Song  in   the   English  and  American 
Churches. 

XII.    Problems  of  Church  Music  in  America. 


"A  most  scholarly  contribution  to  the  sacred  side  of  musical  study,  and  i3 
probably  the  chief  work  on  this  topic  that  America  has  yet  produced."  — 
Louis  C.  Elson  in  The  History  of  American  Music. 

"It  is  an  eager  and  comprehensive  study  which  no  intelligent  minister  can 
afford  not  to  possess  and  ponder.  It  is  a  fine  and  scientific  analysis  of  the 
stages  by  which  this  ministrant  art  has  developed.  Much  research  and  large 
aesthetical  as  well  as  ethical  philosophy  have  gone  into  this  compact  treatise." 
—  President  Stryker  of  Hamilton  College  in  the  Hamilton  Record. 


MUSIC  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF 
THE  WESTERN  CHURCH 

By  EDWARD  DICKINSON 

"  A  volume  of  extraordinary  interest  and  a  mound  of  erudition.  The  article 
on  Johann  Sebastian  Bach  in  the  chapter  'The  Culmination  of  German  Prot- 
estant Music '  alone  would  make  the  book  of  value.  Mr.  Dickinson  knows 
his  subject  thoroughly." — James  Huneker  in  The  Musical  Courier. 

"  No  man  in  this  country  is  better  equipped  than  Prof.  Dickinson  for  the  pro- 
duction of  such  a  book.  His  scholarship  is  profound,  his  critical  poise  serene, 
his  musical  sympathies  wide,  and  his  general  reading  great  enough  to  enable  him 
to  assume  something  larger  than  a  merely  pedagogic  attitude  toward  his  subject. 
*  *  *  The  whole  book  is  characterized  by  knowledge,  firm  mastery  of  the 
subject,  and  a  nice  adjustment  of  derails.  It  is  excellently  written  and  hand- 
somely printed.  *  *  *  Can  be  cordially  recommended  to  all  students  of  musi- 
cal art."  —  W.  J.  Henderson  in  the  New  York  Times. 

"  It  is  a  very  dignified,  painstaking,  thoughtful  treatise,  broad  in  its  scope, 
scholarly  in  its  method,  and  exceedingly  suggestive  and  powerful  upon  many 
questions  both  of  history  and  of  aesthetics.  It  stands  by  itself  in  being  neither 
a  book  of  reference  or  a  text-book  on  the  one  side  nor  a  purely  philosophical 
discussion  on  the  other,  but  something  between  the  two.  Its  treatment  of 
many  of  the  historical  problems  of  the  field  is  notable  for  thoroughness  and 
skill,  and  its  contribution  to  the  philosophy  of  church  music  is  positive  and 
valuable.  It  will  certainly  establish  itself  at  once  as  one  of  the  indispensable 
handbooks  on  the  subject."  —  Prof.  Waldo  S.  Pratt,  of  Hartford  Theo- 
logical Seminary. 

"  There  are  pages  that  were  the  result  of  wide  and  patient  research.  There 
are  sentences  in  which  conclusions  drawn  only  from  indefatigable  research  are 
lucidly  expressed.  Nowhere  is  there  a  show  of  pedantry  ;  nowhere  is  there  the 
suggestion  of  a  man  with  preconceived  theories,  who  shapes  his  facts  or  ignores 
facts  to  confirm  his  theories.  There  is  independent  thought  ;  there  is  the 
utmost  catholicity  of  spirit.  Furthermore,  the  author  marshals  his  facts,  relates 
his  investigations,  hands  down  his  conclusions  in  a  style  that  is  clear,  dignified, 
manly,  entertaining  ;  his  descriptions  are  often  picturesque  j  at  times  he  is 
eloquent."  —  Philip  Hale  in  the  Boston  Journal. 

"To  his  evidently  wide  knowledge  of  the  causes  of  church  music  in  its  many 
stages,  and  acquaintance  with  its  historical  environment,  Professor  Dickinson 
brings  a  broad  and  intelligent  human  sympathy.  He  shows  critical  fairness 
alike  in  his  treatment  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Mass  and  the  rise  of  Lutheran 
hymnody,  of  Anglican  church  music  and  Puritan  Psalmody  in  England  and 
America.  The  treatment  is  free  from  unnecessary  technicalities.  This  book 
furnishes  just  the  sort  of  information  every  clergyman  ought  to  have.  At  the 
same  time  it  is  full  of  suggestion  to  the  specialist.  The  book  is  supplied  with 
a  good  index  and  bibliographical  appendix."  —  The  Outlook. 


CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS  •  NEW  YORK 


Date  Due 

Br  3  VI] 

1 

AP  2  4 '51 

m  8/51 

...     ■  3 

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